


The strangest things happen at night.

by thepastelforestprince



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Eventual Relationships, Fluff and Crack, Fox!Hux, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-06-04
Updated: 2017-11-29
Packaged: 2018-11-08 20:32:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 21,511
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11089371
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thepastelforestprince/pseuds/thepastelforestprince
Summary: Kylo Ren lives in a small house near a forest in California. One night while drinking he hears a noise outside and goes to investigate. His life gets a lot more interesting afterwards.





	1. Chapter 1

It’s one in the morning on a surprisingly cool summer night in a small Californian town bordering a thick forest full of possibly hundreds of thousands of trees, whose many leaves rustle with the slight breeze, some of them drifting off and slowly descending down onto the dirty black pavement of the streets. 

In one small brown house resides Kylo Ren, a man in his late-twenties who works two jobs, one as a self-defense instructor at a nearly dilapidated building in town about 30 minutes away, and the other as a waiter at a small but quaint café about a five minutes walk from his house. 

He lay on his ugly brown plaid couch filled with lumps, knocking back a few cheap beers and watching Channel 5 news, since there’s nothing else good on, the light of the television pouring light into the otherwise pitch-black room. 

Kylo has been hearing a succession of bangs coming from his backyard, but refusing to go investigate, thinking it’s only the beer that’s making him hear things. But when the small bangs escalate into one big bang, he feels he has no choice and reluctantly gets up, grumbling and slamming the beer bottle down onto the table, shuffling back to his kitchen where the sliding door is. 

He has to physically fight with the door before it even barely slides open, before he slams a closed fist on the light switch, filling the previously pitch black yard with dim light. He squints, before finally walking outside onto his small wooden deck, almost tripping over a green lawn chair as he does so.

His metal trash can is flipped forward, the lid thrown haphazardly about five feet away from the can itself. 

“What the fuck?” He murmurs, watching as garbage flies from the can at an alarming rate, a browning banana peel followed by an empty can of beans are chucked rapidly from the can in various directions.

“Who the fuck’s out there? I’ll call the cops,” Kylo yells, and the rustling and tossing of his garbage stops.

He finally musters enough courage to come closer, and now he’s truly wondering if he is as shitfaced as he previously had thought.

Digging in his trash is a naked man, his pale skin illuminated by the white shine of the moon, his body is so skinny his ribs protrude. But that’s not what’s worrying. What’s worrying is his fingernails are black points, and he has copper animal ears on his head. Not just any animal ears, but fox ears, with little white tips.

_ “Okay, so either I have some really fucked up cosplayer quite literally playing in my fucking trash, or I have some magical fox man in my backyard playing in my fucking trash,” _ Kylo thinks to himself as he stares incredulously at this borderline supernatural being. The ears look too real to be fake, too soft, and Kylo also notices a fluffy swishing tail, similarly tipped with white, which has puffed itself up in warning rather like a cat.

And then their eyes meet, seafoam and hazel gaze deep into each other for a solid minute, before the fox man raises his lip in a snarl, exposing sharp canines, and quite literally growls from deep in his throat. 

“You’ve gotta be shitting me,” Kylo whispers, as the man slowly walks backwards, retreating from the garbage can and dumbfounded man on all fours, growling at him all the while, with a rotting fish in his mouth.

“Hey, you, understand english?” He says to it, in a voice not too quiet or loud, and it growls even louder at him, almost as if expecting Kylo to fight him for the disgusting fish he found.

“I assure you, I do not want... _that_ ,” he says, vaguely gesturing to the fish. Fox man takes this as a threat and growls and yips at him, a high strange sound which makes Kylo jump at the unexpectedness of it.

“But if you come inside with me I can give you actual food and not literal garbage,” Kylo offers, making sure not to gesture anymore so as not to frighten the feral redheaded man.

_ And maybe a bath _ , he thinks, noticing the man is nearly as filthy as the garbage itself, covered in dirt and god knows what.

Apparently fox man isn’t interested, and quickly turns around and runs on all fours back into the forest behind Kylo’s house, leaving Kylo with more questions than answers as he reluctantly goes back inside and switches off the patio light.

He gathers up his beer cans, draining whatever contents remain down the sink.

“I’ve gotta stop fuckin’ drinking,” he mutters to himself, before he sits back on his couch and curls up underneath a blanket, switching the tv of with the sound of static and a click, dreading the hangover he's going to have in the morning.


	2. 2

Kylo wakes up, as expected, with a pounding headache and incredible nausea, so incredible he just barely makes it to his bathroom before vomiting. He can hear his phone vibrating in the other room and he’s nearly tempted to break it as he stumbles out of the bathroom and looks at the caller’s id.

Phasma, a friend he’s had for a while now. She used to be a co-worker before he moved and they’d eventually warmed up to one another, and then progressively became friends. He hits the “accept call” button and manages a hoarse “Hello?”

“Jesus, you sound wasted,” She snorts from the other line, sounding none too sympathetic to Kylo’s misery.

“Correction; hungover,” He sighs, running his fingers through his hair and sipping some fruit juice tentatively to get the awful acidic taste of vomit out of his mouth.

“How’s work?” She asks, followed by the sound of light scraping. Kylo guesses she’s filing her nails. 

“I can’t really complain with the café, it’s quiet and nice there. Great view, too. As for the other job, the stingy fuck I work for refuses to give me a raise even though I’m the hardest working employee there by his own admission,” Kylo grumbles, getting up and making himself some toast to at least try to soothe his churning stomach. 

He pops it in the toaster, which is slowly on it’s way out and he knows he doesn’t have the money to replace or fix it, so when it does go out he’ll be royally screwed. 

“What an asshole. I know how hard you work, I’ve seen it firsthand. Why don’t you just quit?” Phasma says, finally appearing to muster some sympathy.

“Oh yeah, you know how many job options I have out here in the middle of nowhere, I mean, jobs are practically jumping out at me and screaming ‘Take me! Take me!’” Kylo quips sarcastically, his voice getting comically high at the last part.

“The only reason I moved here was because it’s affordable. I can barely get by now as is, let alone with just one job,” he continues, the toast pops up, barely toasted. It’ll have to do, considering his only other options are a brand new jar of peanut butter and some stale cheetos.

Kylo briefly harbors the thought of making a peanut butter and cheeto sandwich, but decides it’s too disgusting for even him to attempt to eat. 

“You could always-,”

“No. Absolutely not, I am not asking her for money. I’m almost thirty goddamn years old, Phasma, I should be able to hold a steady job,” He interrupts, not really angry at Phasma, but rather himself. 

_ Am I really so incompetent?  _ He asks himself soberly, reflecting on all of the poor choices he’s previously made that have gotten him fired; punching a customer for making a snide comment, destroying a computer when he couldn’t get it to work properly.

Okay, so maybe when he was younger he made shitty decisions. But he’s changed...mostly. And besides, life is about second chances, right? So why couldn’t he get his?

“Life will open a door for you soon, I’m sure,” Phasma feebly tries to comfort him, unused to saying such things.

“Right now life and starvation are head-to-head. I honestly have no idea which one is going to win first,” He says, expression and voice deadpan. He hears her laugh on the other end of the line.

“I mean, the lady who runs the café feeds me, but I can’t just walk up to her house at three o’clock and say ‘Excuse me, ma’am, could I have a grilled cheese sandwich? I barely have enough money to pay rent, let alone feed myself,’”Kylo murmurs, amusedly thinking about the elderly lady blinking at him as he explains his pathetic situation, and then slamming the door on him. He wouldn’t blame her.

“Well, at least don’t have to dig through garbage,” Phasma says, and then Kylo suddenly remembers the night prior. 

“You just reminded me of somethin’ I saw last night. I think I was just really shitfaced, but I swear to god, I saw this fox-human hybrid or something digging through my garbage can,” Kylo says slowly, shaking his head in disbelief as the memory plays back in his head repeatedly.

“A fox human hybrid,” Phasma says dryly, before erupting into a cackle. Kylo laughs along with her.

“Was he hot?” She says after a moment’s silence.

“Goddamn it, Phasma. And how did you know it was a he?” Kylo groans, snorting at the ridiculousness of his friend’s question. 

“Oh come on, now. But was he?” She persists, and Kylo groans again.

“Fine. Yes, he was very pretty, if a bit malnourished. And I thought I had problems,” Kylo chuckles, finding this all very funny. 

“Are you sure it was a dream?” Phasma’s voice says softly after another small silence.

“Oh, of course it wasn’t, Phasma, a magical fox man just came up and starting eating out of my fucking trash,” Kylo quips, much to Phasma’s amusement as she cackles again. They talk for a good two hours before Kylo’s phone battery is nearly dead.

“Talk to you later then. And, hey, if you see Mr. Fox man tell me more about him,” She giggles, Kylo sighing a soft “goddamn it,” even though he was grinning too, before they both said goodbye and hung up.

He thanked whatever was up in the sky today was his day off of work, as he preferred not to deal with his boss, or even the customers. Not even to mention how in trouble he’d be coming into work with a hangover. He could’ve even been possibly fired, if anyone noticed. 

Of all the things to hallucinate, a naked fox man, he ponders, before an idea pops into his head. 

“No, I am not entertaining this,” he argues with himself out loud, but even so he grabs for his ancient laptop he’s had for about six years now, which crashes if you dare have two tabs open at once. 

Once he enters his password, he goes immediately to google and types in “Fox Man”, despite how stupid he feels doing so. All he gets is a bunch of anthro art and a few Mr. Fox pictures, with unrelated Facebook groups.

 Then he types in “fox shape shifters”, rolling his eyes at his own stupid fascination with a drunken hallucination. When he sees the first result is some sort of fanfiction he groans in frustration and closes his laptop, quietly muttering to himself about how stupid he’s being. And then a realization hits him; he hasn’t checked to see if his garbage can is intact. 

 He practically jumps off of the couch, running so fast he skids on the wooden floors, his sneakers screeching slightly as he does so, and shoves the sliding glass door open harshly. 

 The garbage can is as it was last night, forward with the lid a few feet away near a tree, with garbage just about everywhere along the backyard. Kylo gapes, refusing to believe what he sees right in front of him. 

“No,” He says, in disbelief, shock.

“It’s just raccoons,” He desperately tries to convince himself, mind racing for any possible explanation.

_Leave food out_ , his mind whispers to him, and he wants to scream at himself for being so...irrational.

“I don’t have food to waste,” He argues, but then remembers there’s a fisherman who sells fresh fish for extremely cheap prices, practically robbery if you asked Kylo. 

“I can’t believe I’m doing this,” Kylo hisses, grabbing a one dollar bill from his wallet and heading down to the docks, slamming his door closed behind him, not even remembering to close the glass sliding door in his rush.

  
~

 

He’s gotten four fish for the dollar, planning to leave one out and save the rest for himself, even though he despises seafood of any sort. When he arrives back home his eyes meet the sight of muddy human footprints all across his kitchen floor.

“This isn’t fucking happening,” Kylo murmurs to himself, noting they came from outside.

“This is not happening,” He says forcefully, as if trying to wish his words into the truth.

Nothing was taken, or different aside from the floor itself. He also notices five finger marks with sharp claw prints on one of the cabinets below the kitchen sink.

“I’m losing my mind,” He laughs airily, the fish forgotten and dropped on the floor. And then he hears it, what sounds like hard sniffing, and he turns his head to the sliding glass door, and there the fox man is again.

He’s eyeing the fish hungrily, not even noticing or possibly not even caring Kylo is present while Kylo simply stands with his mouth open like a moron. Now that it’s light out he has a better view of him, his ears match his hair in color, both a startling but beautiful coppery orange, his hands and feet covered in the mud that is most likely all over his kitchen floor.

His lips are pink, full, his nose slightly pointed and adorned with freckles, which are also on his pale shoulders. He is beautiful, twitching ears and swishing tail and all. He’s so skinny that Kylo feels pangs of guilt for ever complaining about his own hunger, and promises to never do so again.

He knows the man is nonverbal, perhaps by choice or simply because he doesn’t know any human language, but still he wonders what he would sound like if he spoke, not yips or growls, but actual words. His eyes are still that hauntingly gorgeous seafoam color that Kylo finds so entrancing.

He knows it’s unethical to even think about trapping him in the house, let alone the damage he could and most likely would do if Kylo even attempted to. He saw how sharp his teeth and claws were, but it was equally unethical to simply let him accumulate even more filth and starve even more, so Kylo is at a standstill with his own morals. 

The redhead slowly approaches, one hand and foot at a time as he finally seemingly notices Kylo, most likely intending to make a fast one on him and steal the fish before he could even notice. As soon as he’s halfway to the fish Kylo closes the door, and chaos ensues.

The fox-man angrily yips and barks at him, in what he seems to think is a threatening manner, as Kylo puts himself up on the kitchen counter, unsure if he could stand on two feet. Apparently he can’t, but boy is he getting an earful as the fox berates him in it’s native language.

The feral man glares at him with his strange icy eyes, promising him a bite or worse if he dare try something further, but then he turns to the fish and begins to tear it apart and eat it. It’s too grotesque for Kylo to watch, so he turns away and lets the other man eat to his heart’s content. And eat he does, making strange snuffling noises as he does, the sounds of him chewing the fish can be heard as well, and then all that’s left is the skeleton, which he gnaws on, but doesn’t eat.

He licks his lips, peers around the kitchen and moves forward a bit to peer out into the rest of Kylo’s (small) house, as if looking for other ways out. He seems exceptionally dissatisfied when he finds none, and huffs angrily and lay down on his stomach, resting his head on his blackened hands. 

“Listen,-” Kylo begins, before being interrupted by an angry yap in return, making him immediately shut up.

_ Was I just silenced by some sort of shape-shifting fox man? _ Kylo asks himself, head still swimming with a mixture of shock and amazement.

If he simply tries to pick him up and put him in the bath he’ll most likely be bitten, and for all he knows this...individual could have rabies or some other disease. Even if he jumps down he’ll most likely be bitten, but he’s not going to be trapped by a magical fox man, no matter how attractive he is.

He slides off the counter quickly, landing in the kitchen doorway. The redhead glares at him, but makes no move to attack. The foxman then closes his eyes, appearing to be resting or something, but when Kylo takes a step forward he receives a throaty growl in return. Okay, so this will take a while. Kylo is immensely patient.

 

~

 

Two hours. For two hours Kylo has been inching forward towards this man, fox, whatever he is, receiving warning growls in return. He sticks his hand out like you do for dogs you first meet, and lets the redhead smell him. But he still receives growls, and he knows they’re justified. For all he knows, Kylo is going to hurt or kill him, even though he isn’t. How is he supposed to know? 

Finally, Kylo is right in front of him, close enough to touch him. And for some strange reason unbeknownst to even himself, he does want to touch him. Immensely. Touch the dirty copper hair, the ears, pet him even.

 When he first lay a finger on the man’s head, he receives a flinch, not a bite or scratch, but a flinch. This makes him saddened. _Have you been hurt before_ , he wonders, searching the oh-so human face for any hint of emotion, finding only a brief flicker of fear before nothingness returns.

 “I promise you, I don’t want to hurt you,” He murmurs softly, and even though there seems to be a vast language barrier, the feral man seems to understand this, most likely realizing if Kylo intended harm or death it would’ve already come. 

 But he still doesn’t seem to trust him, and Kylo doesn’t blame him at all.

 Even though it’s stupid to ask, he still does.

 “Do you have a name?” And for once, the man actually looks up at him, stares at him as if he so desperately wants to speak, but can’t.

 “I can make a name for you...mmm….how about Red?” Kylo suggests to an indifferent looking Red.

 “Red it is, for now at least,” Kylo shrugs, and Red still studies him curiously. Kylo reaches another cautious hand out, and lay it on Red’s head, lightly petting him. Red blinks, most likely unused to contact, of another human or animal.

 “If you’d permit me, I’d like to clean you up,” Kylo murmurs, putting his hands underneath Red’s back and lightly picking him up. Red growls, but it’s softer this time, the shock of it almost making Kylo drop him, which would be a much worse scenario. He carefully carries him into the bathroom, and turns the bath on, letting it run warm.

 Twice, Red tries to skitter away out of the bathroom, and twice he is foiled by Kylo’s strength. He gives up and simply huffs, glaring at Kylo with those pretty eyes of his and his ears flicking with annoyance.

 When Kylo picks him up and puts him in the water, he screeches, not in pain, but simply from dislike of the water. Red makes such a fuss that half of the bathwater is either on Kylo or on the floor from his frantic splashing and attempts to get back onto dry land. 

Kylo holds his sharp-nailed hand and he stops, giving Kylo the time he needs to grab his soap, shampoo and conditioner. He begins to lather up Red’s hair and ears, occasionally scratching them and gauging his reaction. He seems to like ear scratches quite a bit, so he does just that to calm him down. When he pours a bowlful of water to wash out the shampoo Red angrily screeches again, but settles down within a second of his ear being scratched.

Kylo is fascinated by Red, his behaviors. As he scrubs layers upon layers of caked dirt off of him, he simply sits there, making low grumble sounds and occasionally yipping in reprimand when Kylo gets too rough, making him immediately apologize.

When the bath is over, Kylo wraps him in a towel and places him on the living room couch, and then focuses on the next thing; clothes. Kylo does not need some poor 80 year old grandmother looking in his window and seeing a naked fox man.

Red is lithe, and Kylo is rather toned from years of working out and from teaching self-defense. He comes back out with a pair of pants and some obscure band t-shirt he doesn’t even remember buying.

“Here,” he says thoughtlessly, putting the clothes besides Red before remembering that he is indeed a feral fox..man...whatever.

“I’m going to put these on you, is that alright?” He asks, and surprisingly he notices a flicker of recognition in Red’s eyes, almost as if he’s just remembered something. Kylo puts the t-shirt on him first, and then shimmies the pants onto him. They’re a bit big but they’ll do.

Red does not seem to like clothes, but tolerates them for reasons only known to him. Kylo appreciates this gesture, or whatever it is as he sits a distance away from Red, trying to give him some space.

Red’s wet hair drips down the back of his neck, and he releases a small shiver at the cold sensation. It’s strange, how he seemingly shifts from almost human to animal behaviors at the drop of a hat. It’s like he’s stuck between two, or confused. Maybe before he hadn’t been feral, maybe something happened that forced him to live out in the wild. Kylo has an inkling it’s why he has a fox tail and ears too, for some strange reason.

He wonders if Red was previously just a fox or just a man. Maybe he had been both forever, but that’s not the feeling Kylo has. He suspects the latter, but how does a human turn into a human-fox hybrid? It’s not like that just normally happens.

Another odd thing is how Red fixates on how Kylo speaks, seemingly hanging onto every syllable and pronunciation of every word, as if he himself has forgotten how to speak and is trying to remember what words sound like.

Kylo ponders all of this in silence as Red stares at the TV remote, before gnawing on it with his sharp teeth.

“Hey, hey, no!” Kylo scolds him, but stops dead in his tracks when Red glares at him and _hisses._ Do foxes even hiss? Red continues on his merry way gnawing on the poor remote control, but seems to take special care not to destroy or break it. He puts it down and then focuses his attention on the television itself.

“I can put something on, if you’d like,” Kylo offers, picking up the remote and wincing when he feels drool drip onto his hand. He turns it on, switching it to a random channel. Sesame Street is on, Elmo is talking to a young child about something or the other and Red looks utterly fascinated.

He seems to be fixated on the speaking again, and Kylo only watches, asks no further questions nor says another word, watching Red with an equal amount of fixation. His seafoam eyes flicker about the screen, going from Elmo to the child with another hint of recognition. Kylo would ask him a thousand questions if he could.

 

~

 

Red is still watching television when night falls, except Kylo has wrapped a blanket around him, along with Red’s own tail wrapped around himself, occasionally flickering about, his ears moving from side to side as he watches the news.

Kylo is attempting an experiment with food. He’s been wondering whether or not Red will only eat meat, so he offers him the jar of peanut butter. Red’s trancelike state is finally broken as he stares at the jar, with it’s red cap. Kylo takes the cap off and Red sniffs it, finding the smell pleasant enough to taste as he licks some directly from the jar.

He chews on it, before swallowing it, his eyes widening. And then he takes it in between his teeth and crawls under the couch.

“Hey!” Kylo protests, but realizes his fight is a futile one, simply letting Red have the peanut butter. He can still hear the noises of him licking it out of the jar and can’t help but laugh at his territorial instincts.

“I wouldn’t have tried to take it from you, you know,” he snorts, shaking his head in amusement. Red crawls out and Kylo’s mouth makes a small “o”.

Did he just…? Did he understand what I just said? Kylo wonders, staring at the redhead who cocks his head in return, making Kylo’s confusion run even deeper. Kylo reaches his hand out and pets him again, feeling his hair, now dry and ever so soft, and his ears, soft and pointed. Red releases what sounds like chirps, happy little noises in his chest. 

Red walks on his hands and knees over to Kylo, and drops the jar of peanut butter by Kylo’s feet, as if rewarding him, before shuffling back under the blanket and resuming his television stupor.

“Thank...you?” Kylo says slowly, more of a question than a thanks, and receives a high yap in return. 

Kylo is about 100% sure that was a very haughty “You’re welcome”, and he’s practically bursting with the excitement the realization brings...he’s understanding. And he’s a snarky little thing, too. Somehow that makes it all the more amusing to Kylo.

Kylo picks up the jar of peanut butter, forgetting Red had just been licking it, and eats some off of his finger, boredly watching the weather forecaster talk about the upcoming hot weather. He notices Red nodding off slightly, before he finally falls asleep, with soft snores emanating under the soft blankets. Kylo picks him up as gently as he can muster, going into the bedroom and putting him under the covers, before turning around and laying down on the couch, changing the television to “Hey Arnold” reruns on Nicktoons, and eventually dozing off himself.

  
~

 

When Kylo wakes, Red’s face is just millimeters from his, making him jolt back and hit his head against the back of the couch.

“Ah, fuck,” he hisses, holding his throbbing head as he groans in pain.

“Ah, fuck,” Red imitates, and Kylo chokes on literal air as he stares, slack-jawed in shock at the fact he’s just spoken.

“You can talk?” Kylo asks breathlessly, his hand falling to his side as Red observes his response curiously.

“You can talk?” Red parrots again, trying (and failing) to emulate Kylo’s natural baritone, which makes him suppress a giggle. 

He can sure imitate, Kylo thinks as Red seemingly waits for him to say something further so he can repeat it again. Kylo also notices he has the peanut butter again and the jar is half empty. Well, that’ll need to be replaced.

“My name is Kylo,” Kylo says, gesturing to himself. This time, Red does not repeat, well, not all of it, at least.

“Kylo,” Red responds, Kylo noticing he has an accent of some sort, but he’s too euphoric to really give any thought to it. He nods rapidly, grinning like an idiot.

“And you’re Red,” Kylo says, expecting him to say “red” in response.

“No,” Red responds, and Kylo blinks, unsure of what to say or do.

“No?” Kylo asks, wondering if Red has an actual real name.  _ Of course he does, you dolt _ , he tells himself.

“No.” Red confirms, his gaze flickering about as if trying to remember, but apparently he can’t remember.

Red doesn’t speak for the rest of the day.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have no idea how i wrote 10 more pages of this last night but here you guys go.
> 
> I'm interested to hear what you guys think the deal is with Red (Hux obviously) and why he is the way he is. Hope you guys enjoyed.


	3. Help, progress, and the contrast between copper hair and blue moonlight.

Red is continuously proving to be a mystery. He’ll disappear under furniture or cabinets, occasionally managing to hole himself up on a shelf too far for even Kylo to reach, still holding his prized peanut butter jar and looking about at his surroundings.

Even stranger is the fact a black dog has been appearing at Kylo’s glass sliding door for the past two days, as if expecting entry. It sits for about 30 minutes, whining all the while and scratching from time to time, and when Red notices the dog he seems to do a double take, jumping off of the shelf and landing on the floor, walking over to peer out at the inquisitive dog.

Once it notices Red, it starts barking. Not aggressively, simply as if holding a conversation. Red barks back, scratching at the glass door as well. Kylo wonders if this is one of Red’s friends, or maybe a packmate he had previously.

Red feebly attempts to balance on his back legs and open the glass door, trying and failing to maneuver the lock and getting so frustrated he releases a growl. The dog looks dejectedly on, before catching Kylo’s eye and releasing a high whine.

“The more the merrier, I suppose,” Kylo shrugs, opening the door and letting the dog in. Red and the dog sniff each other, apparently getting reacquainted with their respective scents. Red shows him the peanut butter, which he haltingly takes a lick of, and immediately regrets as it gets stuck to the roof of his mouth and he’s stuck repeatedly licking it.

Red looks utterly confused, and Kylo suppresses a laugh as he watches the poor Mutt try to free itself from the peanut butter prison. 

“This your friend?” He asks to Red, who looks at him and blinks. He hasn’t spoken since yesterday, seeming too frustrated that he couldn’t say exactly what he wanted to, so he just gave up completely, so it would seem. He tried to get a name out of him but all he received was silence.

“Nice to meet you, uh, Mr. Dog,” Kylo says, extending a hand, which the dog reaches out and shakes with his own paw primly.

Kylo looks at the small wooden clock on his wall and blanches. It’s 5 minutes until his shift at the café, which is about a _15 minute walk_ away.

“Shit, shit, shit, I’m gonna be late for work!” He shouts, quickly shoving a random jacket onto himself and running around like a chicken with its head cut off searching for his keys, wallet, and shoes respectively.

The dog has a almost permanently sad expression on it’s face, watching Kylo haul ass and looking at him with something akin to sympathy in its dark eyes, meanwhile, Red looks extremely amused at all of this, especially when Kylo accidentally trips over the rug and falls flat on his back. Even though he’s not laughing out loud, his intense seafoam eyes are, Kylo can tell from looking at him. 

“I’m glad you find this all a laugh riot, but do you know where my keys are?” He groans, rubbing his sore back and staring at the copper and black duo who stare at him with curiosity. Red walks over to the kitchen counters cabinets and barks once, flicking his head upwards to indicate they were somewhere atop the counter itself.

“Thanks,” he mutters to Red, whose expression turns into that strange mix of almost thoughtful expressionlessness, and a pang of sadness, perhaps. Red is the most intriguing riddle to Kylo, one he hopes he’ll figure out the answer to.

 

~

 

Work seems to drone on at an extra slow speed as an elderly woman laughingly tells Kylo about her mischief-maker of a grandson who stole all the candies from the bottom of her purse, Kylo offering a polite smile even though his shift ended about 5 minutes ago now, and he wants nothing more than to go home and watch Red and his behaviors, and that new dog as well.

When her story finally finishes, he offers her a polite but rushed “goodbye” and practically leaps out of the door, sprinting as far as his long legs will take him, inhaling the strong odor of the pines and absentmindedly wondering how long Red has been in this general area, until he’s at his door, turning the key within the lock.

Two things he notices almost immediately are that Red is in the corner, seemingly protecting the somber black dog and the peanut butter jar, and growling fiercely at Phasma, his lips pulled back to reveal sharpened canines, his claws puncturing the hardwood floors. Phasma is the second thing he notices, and he quickly comes in and leads her a safe distance away, relieved he came back when he did.

“So your fox friend is real, huh?” She whispers to Kylo, still staring at Red in disbelief, who is staring right back, looking rather irritated he wasn’t informed of any other humans he’d have to be dealing with.

“Yes, it’s a long story, but please, be careful with him...he really doesn’t trust humans,” Kylo explains softly to Phasma, before turning to face Red.

“She’s a friend and she means no harm. To you or Mr. Dog or your peanut butter, Red,” Kylo promises, and Red finally relents, glaring at Phasma and releasing a huff, before he zones in on something in the backyard, pupils dilating. 

He runs so fast he collides with the glass door with a thunderous bang, not breaking it miraculously enough, and starts barking and yipping angrily in the general direction of the trash cans.

“What’s he on about now?” Phasma queries, looking utterly fascinated and partially amused by Red’s sudden and rather violent outburst as his invigorated screaming gets even louder and furious.

Kylo shrugs, before walking up to the glass door and noticing the raccoons pillaging his trash. Do Red and the raccoons have some sort of rivalry? Perhaps they’re mortal enemies, Kylo amuses himself by thinking.

Red is yelling so heatedly at them his face is flushed red, telling them off with vigor that rivalled even Kylo when he got set off. Kylo is about 99.98% sure if he understood what Red was saying he’d hear a fair share of swear words as well, which makes him release an amused laugh. 

The raccoons don’t even notice him, and when he seems to realize this he growls at them and slumps down, angry he didn’t pull a reaction from them. 

The black dog walks over and gives him a rather sympathetic lick to one ear, slumping besides him and whining lowly. Kylo has never seen such a miserable dog in his life and pities it immensely for whatever trials it could’ve possibly been put through. 

“So now you have a raccoon-hating fox man and a dog who if it could cry would be crying every hour of the day?” Phasma laughs, before cautiously taking a step forward and petting the black dog on its fluffy head. It seems to appreciate the affection, as it licks her palm, and she smiles brilliantly.

“What a fantastic and intriguing duo,” She beams, and Red looks up at her with mild curiosity, before getting up and walking around the edge of the kitchen, retrieving the remains of the peanut butter jar and setting it by her feet. 

“He’s offering it to you...I think,” Kylo tells her softly, but then remembers about her allergy.

“Oh! Thank you very much Mr. Red, was it? I’m afraid I’m very allergic to peanut butter, unfortunately, but your gesture is vastly appreciated,” She apologizes to Red, who looks like he doesn’t care either way, just so long as she knew her compliment was appreciated. 

“What breed of dog is the other one?” She asks Kylo in a whisper. He shrugs, looking at the dog, who looks at him with his sad, sad eyes, releasing strange, low sad warbling sounds in its throat. 

“It looks sort of like a flat-coated retriever if you ask me. My neighbors had one back at my old house. Such sweet things and easily trained, too,” She murmurs thoughtfully, studying the black dog once again with intrigue.

Faintly, Kylo hears what sounds to be the sounds of Red’s stomach rumbling. Red takes this as a challenge and growls back at it, making Kylo and Phasma laugh softly. Red doesn’t understand the amusement and glares at the both of them this time.

“I guess it’s food time,” Kylo suggests to Phasma, who nods.

“Speaking of, I brought you some food, because I sort of suspected that what you had seen was actually real when you missed my calls all day for two days,” She snorts good-naturedly, going out the front door to her pristine silver-colored Audi and opening the back door, retrieving at least six or seven grocery bags worth of things.

“Phas, I can’t accept all of this,” Kylo protests as she sets bag upon bag on his kitchen counter with flawless ease. She waves him off, scoffing and rolling her eyes.

“Nonsense. You can and will,” She responds firmly, and he doesn’t have the heart to argue with Phasma. She always wins in the end, anyways. 

“Kylo,” Red suddenly says, making both Kylo and Phasma jump and look at him in startled shock, as he stares expectantly at Kylo, blinking all the while.

“Yes, that’s me,” Kylo laughs nervously, as Phasma simply gapes at the two of them. 

“Kylo,” Red repeats, elongating the last part before turning over his attention to Phasma, and then looking at Kylo again.

“Oh, no, she’s not Kylo. She’s Phasma...Phasma,” He repeats slowly, pointing at himself when he says his name, and pointing at Phasma when he says hers.

“Phasba?” Red attempts, and Phasma grins joyously, even though he got her name wrong.

“He can call me whatever he likes,” She giggles in her good-natured way, before he stares deeply into her eyes like he does so frequently with Kylo. She falters, her expression turning into one of confusion as the staring contest continues, and then abruptly breaks off.

“He’s extraordinarily expressive without even saying anything. Did you see that?” She murmurs, still sounding rather shocked.

“No...what did he do?” Kylo queries, staring at Red’s seafoam eyes, and Phasma’s icy blue ones, going back and forth between the two as if he’d see the connection they just shared. 

“Nothing. That’s my point. He just looked at me, but still-,” 

“Dopheld. Dopheld! Dopheld!” Red says, eyes widening and sounding as if he’s just realized something grand. He runs over to the dog and repeats this. The dog barks at him and wags its tail, panting and whining all the while.

“Dopheld?” Phasma and Kylo say in unison, and the dog gets up and walks over, barking and whining at them, tail wagging furiously.

And for the first time that Kylo has seen, Red actually grins. Not a snarl or sneer, but a genuine grin, dazzling with genuine happiness, adorable with his sharpened canines, and making his eyes glitter like green gems. And he realizes that they’re getting somewhere.

 

~

 

As it would seem, the dog’s name is Dopheld. That’s one name down, but it still leaves Red’s to be discovered. Red’s curiosity doesn’t have limits, it would seem as he watches Kylo cook for the both of them. Phasma insisted upon him using the food for only them, as she had brought some chips and a few drinks to sustain herself. 

The chicken sizzles in the pan, Kylo sprinkling in a few spices, not too many so as not to overwhelm Red’s senses, but enough so it isn’t completely bland. He’s going to try to see if Red knows how to use a knife or fork, another experiment.

Phasma is sitting on the couch with Dopheld and petting him from time to time, watching Looney Tunes and grazing on some cheddar Sun Chips, occasionally sneaking Dopheld one, which he crunches on, making her giggle with how goofy he looks doing it. 

When dinner is finally served, he coaxes Red into sitting on one of his cushioned wood Dining Room chairs, and puts the plate with chicken, vegetables and all in front of him, gauging for some sort of reaction and eagerly awaiting what he’ll do next.

Recognition floods Red’s unique features once again, most transparently through his eyes, which look at the fork and knife, and then the food, and then repeated the act in reverse order.

Phasma and Kylo both watch Red with bated breath, meanwhile Dopheld just curiously peers over for a few seconds and then turns back to the television screen, whining loudly and apparently not understanding what all the fuss is about. 

With a shaking hand, Red takes the silver fork, which wobbles in his almost hesitant grip as he slowly moves it to hover over the vegetables, specifically the green beans, and then he stabs through it with the prongs of the fork, mouth dropping to form a “o” as he does so.

Kylo feels like shouting, not out of anger, but out of pure jubilation. This all but proves to him that Red was human, has always been at least part human. An animal wouldn’t know what to do with a fork, but he almost immediately did. Kylo can feel the muscles in his face ache from how broadly he’s grinning.

“You mind if I turn this on?” Phasma asks, flicking her head to indicate Kylo’s ancient, clunky radio. It’s most likely older than he is, but it works and that’s just about all that matters. He nods quickly, all attention focused on the redhead, who is haltingly bringing the fork to his mouth, before finally putting the single green bean in his mouth and chewing.

The radio garbles to life, news reporters speaking of some crime that occurred in Florida including a murder of a man and the arrest of another man, a suspect involved in said crime.

“His name is Jason Huxley-,” Kylo faintly hears, and on the last word of the female reporter’s cut off sentence, Red’s eyes widen like saucers, and he chokes on his green bean, hand flying up to his throat as he does. 

Kylo practically leaps over to him, feeling alarm flood his senses as he whaps Red on the back and the green bean ejects from his throat and goes flying over the kitchen table, landing somewhere in the other room.

Phasma, Red, and Kylo’s expressions all mirror one another’s, shock, confusion, widened eyes and gaping mouths as Kylo and Phasma look with worry at Red, who seems to be in the most shock out of all three.

“Hux,” Red rasps, throat sore from having a green bean lodged in it when he’d just practically inhaled it. He’s panting softly, nails making sharp holes as they’re lodged in the arms of the chair he’s currently holding onto for dear life, as if they’re the only thing keeping him from fading away from existence, the only thing keeping him grounded.

Kylo’s heart thuds almost painfully in his chest, blood rushing through his ears and almost amplifying the sound of his thumping heart, excitement creeping slowly, so as not to rush him all at once and leave him disappointed if his assumption is incorrect.

“Haah-Hux. My name is Hux,” Red, or Hux, rather, manages to wheeze out, his voice sounding strange and rather strained due to god knows how long a time of not using it, words feeling almost like cotton in his mouth as he struggles to pronounce and enunciate correctly. 

“Hux,” Kylo breathes, trying the uncommon name on his own tongue, finding it much to his liking. Such a unique being is fitting to have such a unique name, Kylo feels. Hux stares at him strangely, an expression somewhere in-between immense gratitude and the feeling of being utterly lost. 

“Where am I?” Hux asks, turning himself around in his chair and squinting out of the window, seeing only the dark silhouette of trees against the royal blue backdrop that is the sky. Kylo furrows his brow in utter bewilderment at Hux’s question, Phasma sitting in enthused silence and waiting for more to be said.

“In my house,” Kylo says, as if it’s the most obvious thing in the world (which to him, it absolutely is), and Hux shoots him a withering glare.

“I’m aware of that. I meant geographically, state, country, city, town, what?” He huffs haughtily, bearing his sharp teeth in annoyed scowl.

“Northern California,” Kylo responds, not minding Hux’s tone or his frankly cute little scowl. Hux blinks, processing this information in some sort of almost bothered silence.

“What year is it?” Is his next question, said nervously, as if he were scared of something. Kylo suspects his fear is due to his priorly feral state, which had made him unable to tell, if not oblivious to time. 

Kylo wants to comfort him, but he doesn’t want to overstep any boundaries, even if they haven’t been made entirely clear yet, so he simply sits on his sympathy and suppresses as much of it as he can.

“Two-thousand sixteen,” Kylo says softly, and Hux looks absolutely devastated, making Kylo’s heart ache for him all the more. The devastation is covered quickly by a stern, stony mask, all emotion in his eyes turning to hardened steeliness, and then he seems to actually fully notice Dopheld, who lay on the couch a few feet away.

“Mitaka!” He hisses, and the dog’s head perks up, whining loudly all the while until Hux irritably shushes him. Hux looks expectantly at him, but then seems to realize...something, and he looks utterly melancholy again, ears flattening almost reflexively before he mutters something unintelligible to himself, heaving a deep sigh.

“I thought his name was Dopheld,” Kylo mumbles confusedly to himself, Hux shooting him a pointed look.

“It is. His last name’s Mitaka,” He sniffs, an air of pretension about him, not just in words but in body language as well as his gaze moves between Kylo and the dog.

“Why in god’s name would a dog have a first and last name?” Kylo snorts, and Hux laughs right back at him, a sneer on his attractive face.

“He’s not a-,” Hux begins, but cuts himself short when he once again stares blankly at Mitaka, who is still whining, but much more softly, so as not to irritate Hux again. His mouth closes wordlessly and he looks as if he wants to cry and punch a wall simultaneously. 

He scoots off of the chair on wobbly legs, and teeters to the bathroom, an audible gasp heard as he apparently looks at himself in the mirror. Kylo sneaks over and peers in, watching Hux as he looks utterly horrified at his own appearance, blinking as if refusing to believe the reflection.

He touches his pointed copper ears, grabs his tail and yanks it harshly as if expecting it to magically fall off. He yelps in pain as he does, and somber realization seems to set in as he looks over his blackened fingers, noting the sharpness of his claws, which grow where his nails normally should. 

His tail swishes with almost mournful slowness, as he continues to take in the sight of his own body, looking at himself with something akin to disgust, or self-loathing, burning in his eyes, which stare meet his reflections in a mock staring contest.

Kylo wants to ask him everything, about himself and why or how he got to be the way he is, but judging by his defensive attitude, he’ll get nowhere. He can’t help but wonder what happens next, now that Hux is slowly recollecting himself, and his memories and mannerisms. 

He doesn’t even know him, only the feral version of him, which he liked very much. Actual Hux doesn’t seem to like him at all, but then again they are strangers. Kylo feels like he’s swallowed a rock, or rather two rocks, a sizable one weighing down his stomach, and another lodged in his throat, causing him to have the urge to swallow repeatedly so as to rid himself of it.

Hux holds his head in his hands, tugging on his own fluffy orange hair, closing his eyes and trying desperately to control his rapid breathing. Everything seems to be hitting him all at once, much too quickly for him to be able to process it, so it keeps on hitting, expecting to force its way into his reality. 

“Hux?” Kylo whispers tentatively, and Hux’s head whips up so fast he’s surprised he doesn’t have whiplash. His pupils are wide, his eyes brimmed with tears he fiercely fights back, hands clenched into tight fists, making his nails prick the palms of his hands.

“I’m fine,” He insists, his wavering voice alone telling Kylo that he is absolutely not fine, as if his appearance wasn’t enough of a sign.

“You’re Kylo, right? Thank you for your hospitality, even though I’m not exactly sure if the way I got here is the way I’m remembering,” He says stiffly, and Kylo braces himself for what he feels absolutely certain is incoming.

“But unfortunately, I have nowhere else to stay, so I humbly ask to stay here until I can...well, I don’t even know,” He continues, stumbling over his words as if unused to asking such a thing of strangers, and Kylo does a double-take, trying to hide his joy as best as he can, putting on an almost distant air himself.

“Absolutely. Stay however long you need to,” Kylo gruffly replies, trying not to sound desperate, or as if he actually wants him to stay (which he immensely does, but he doesn’t want him to know that).

Hux offers him a small thankful quirk of the lips and brushes past, Kylo shivering softly as his sharp fingertips accidentally brush his arm, sending a strange wave of chills up his arms and legs. Hux now properly looks at all of his surroundings with the cognitive abilities he didn’t have in his former state.

Phasma, who has been silent up until now, intentionally catches his eye. He offers another stiff smile, meeting her inquiring gaze.

“Phasma, wasn’t it? I apologize, my brain was a bit...fried, let’s say. It’s lovely to make your acquaintance,” He murmurs, offering a hand to her, which she shakes firmly, having to stare down at him a bit, considering she is taller than him.

“Likewise,” Is all she can muster, amazed by how quickly he’s come back to himself, before the awkward handshake stops and she sits back down on Kylo’s awful couch, looking at him with the same thought he had.

 

_ “That was fast,” _

 

 

~

 

As if accommodating himself and Hux wasn’t difficult enough, now he has Phasma to account for, not that she’s a nuisance, quite the opposite, but his living space is so...small, and he, Phasma, and even Hux are rather tall. He’s now residing on the living room floor, with blankets and pillows, having given the couch to Phasma and his bed to Hux, who tried to argue with him about it.

“I’ll sleep on the floor, it’s absolutely fine,” Hux had attempted to insist, but Kylo continued arguing until they were both sick of arguing and he finally relented. 

Kylo peers in through a minute crack in the doorway, seeing Hux’s curled up frame, body rising and falling with every sleep-laced breath, moonlight from his large bedroom window bathing him in blueish white hue, heavy eyelids closed and steady breaths huffing from his nose as he dreams peacefully, body tangled in the warmth of the sheets and legs kicked out when he got too warm in slumber. Beautiful, he was absolutely beautiful. Kylo took to note the beautiful contrast of the blueness of moonlight with the firey copper of his hair, how he looked almost angelic he looked with the ring of light cascading on his body. 

And then he swallowed, throat feeling dry and realizing just how far down the foxhole he’d fallen, and slunk away, laying down on his blankets and closing his eyes, a brief image of Hux's peaceful slumbering flickering, and then he could feel himself slowly float down into the realm of sleep, snoring very lightly.  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I apologize on the wait, but it's been in the 100+ degrees where I'm from and it's making me miserable and thus affecting my ability to write. It's also been inducing headaches and the need to sleep 10x longer bleh. (It's only june too what the heck)
> 
> (That foxhole part was a pun on "falling down the rabbit hole" i thought it was clever) 
> 
> ok, so here's the drill. There's going to be seven chapters, and the eighth is going to be a epilogue, which will clear up what the end doesn't. I've been trying to figure out how many chapters I'd write (including the epilogue) and settled on eight overall (the epilogue being the eighth) (bc eight is my lucky number lol) (and my birth month) The next chapters are going to be equal crack and plot and backstory, etc, so expect that.
> 
> Poor Hux everything just sort of hit him in the face all at once, also Mitaka's a dog how mysterious~ okay, I'm done, thank you all for the kudos+lovely comments+subscriptions I really appreciate it. I hope you guys enjoyed!


	4. Chapter 4

When Kylo wakes in the morning, the first thing he hears is the steady _kshhhhh_ of water, followed by the sounds of scrubbing, and a familiar irritated huff. He opens his bleary eyes and blinks in the general direction of his kitchen, where he’s almost certain the sounds are coming from.

He can see the white-tipped ears of Hux, who irately mutters under his breath about the deplorable state the kitchen was left in. They flick when he’s annoyed, as it would seem. Kylo files this to things he never knew he wanted to know, but is amused to know anyway.

Kylo slowly gets up, stretching his arms high above his head, and stretching his partially sore neck, before finally getting to see exactly what Hux was doing in his kitchen. Kylo is strangely amused by the fact that while Hux is still wearing his clothes, he’s changed into different ones. A SOAD t-shirt and some black jeans that are quite a bit too big for him, but not too long for him.

He expects to find the previous pair of clothes pristinely folded and put somewhere in plain view in his room, or possibly in his drawer. Hux just seems like that kind of person. Which most likely means he’s mortified at the state of Kylo’s bedroom, as well.

“How in the nine hells can a piece of food be stuck this hard to a goddamn plate?! Grrr,” Kylo can hear Hux growl under his breath, followed by the sound of very furious scrubbing. Judging by the fuming look on Hux’s face he was either about to give up or break the plate trying.

Kylo suppresses a snicker, and finally makes his way to the kitchen.

“Well, good morning sunshine,” He quips, opening the fridge and rummaging lazily through it for some milk.

Hux’s head whips in his direction so fast he’s surprised he doesn’t have a broken neck or whiplash, the look in his eyes is poisonous, if not completely deadly as he narrows them at Kylo, nostrils flaring and jaw clenched so hard he can practically feel it himself.

Sunlight streams in and illuminates Hux’s hair to an even more dazzling shade of copper, so dazzling that Kylo’s heart skips a beat and he completely forgets he’s being stared at like he’s about to be flayed.

Hux forces a kind expression on his face, an unnaturally sweet smile twisting his lips and his eye slightly twitching.

“Good morning, Kylo,” He strains, sounding very much like he’d like to hit Kylo over the head with he plate he’s been scrubbing for god knows how long. His tail swishes like a feline’s when irritated; back and forth in rapid strokes, sometimes almost rattling and flicking like a snake’s.

Kylo chugs milk straight from the carton, Hux looks at him like he’s some disgusting trash-dweller, wrinkling his cute freckled nose in distaste and looking away as if his eyes may be tainted by the sight of such impoliteness. He’s probably making a mental note to never touch that carton again, Kylo guesses.

“You really don’t need to stress over that plate, it’s not that big of a deal,” Kylo murmurs, wiping the back of his hand against his mouth, returning the milk carton back to the fridge and leaning against the closed door.

“I wouldn’t be ‘stressing over’ anything if this piece of food would just-oh!” He grunts, having a white-knuckled vice grip on the plate as he finally gets the stubborn piece of food to relent and slide off.

He grins victoriously, flashing his strangely adorable sharpened canines again, pumping his fists up in the air in victory, and then finally drops the clean dish into the sink, still grinning all the while.

It should be a crime how cute that was, Kylo feels. The whole thing, but especially that proud little smile of his. And the worst thing is he doesn’t even realize he’s doing it... he’s not even _trying_.

“Congratulations,” Kylo says, trying to sound sarcastic. Hux doesn’t even seem to care in his joy, simply goes on to the next dish without another word, zeroing in on his work and nothing more.

Kylo feels a pang of disappointment for not having wrung any reactions from the ginger, but he decides he’ll have plenty time for that later and meanders back into the living room, turns the tv on and the sound off so as not to disturb Mitaka and Phasma, Mitaka sleeping on top of the woman who is in a rather deep sleep herself.

Kylo is amused to realize he can’t even discern which one of them is snoring.

~

When Hux is satisfied with the overall state of the kitchen after he’s cleaned it, he goes into the living room and sits a few feet away from Kylo in the middle of the floor, legs crossed and head resting in his hand, eyes lazily focused on the television screen.

He looks tired, but that’s to be expected when you spend two and a half hours making sure the kitchen is absolutely clean to your standards. The ceiling fan hums, a low strange sound as it spins and provides some reprieve from the hot summer weather, the only noise in the house. It’s almost eerie to Kylo, and terribly stifling.

But then again, silence is always stifling to Kylo. He’d much rather have two marching bands storming through his house than no sound at all, but for Phasma’s sake he keeps his mouth shut even though he very much wants to ask Hux a million questions. He doubts he’ll get far, but it’s worth a shot.

After about 15 more minutes of almost maddening silence Mitaka wakes and carefully slides off of the sleeping blonde, coming over to Hux and saying good morning in his own limited way, whining and licking him before yawning and lumbering off somewhere in the house.

Phasma wakes soon after, yawning and stretching, swinging her long legs over the couch and wearily waving to Kylo, who waves back. She gets up and heads to the bathroom, the door making a soft click behind her as she closes it and finally Kylo feels he can make noise again.

“So,” He begins awkwardly, Hux turning and gazing at him with expectant green eyes. How exactly do you get about asking him questions, anyway? ‘Hey, how’d you come to be a fox-man?’ he internally cringes at the thought. Hux is still giving him that expectant look and he has no idea how to phrase what he’s been wondering for the past few days.

_You idiot, you should’ve thought this out!_

“H-How?” Is what he manages to force out. Hux blinks repeatedly at the question, before bursting out into boisterous laughter that is simultaneously the most beautiful and condescending thing Kylo has ever heard in his life.

After the laughter dies down into occasional amused giggles, Hux turns to him, cocking a brow.

“I reckon you’re wondering how exactly it is I turned into _this_ ,” He huffs, gesturing downwards to his swishing tail and then up to his pointed ears with their white tips with mild irritation and disgust that seems to be aimed at himself.

“And to answer that question, I offer a respectful _none of your business_ ,” He says so softly, nonchalantly that Kylo does a double-take. Kylo is not one to pry, as he hates being on the receiving end of prying, and he knows how godawful it can be, but this is torturous.

“It’s absolutely nothing against you, by the way, it just...it can’t be changed, so there’s no use talking about it,” He sighs sadly, his words give Kylo a little bit of hope that he doesn’t completely hate him.

“Okay,” Kylo says, not wanting to bring up bad memories, even if it were on accident. Phasma has returned without notice, until she turns the sound on the tv on, that is. Kylo and Hux jump almost in unison at the sudden voices, noises appearing out of nowhere apparently to them, and she laughs.

Hux scowls sourly but says nothing, releasing a huff through his nose that sort of sounds like a train when it slows to a stop. Kylo can’t help but crack a smile himself. It _was_ pretty funny, after all.

~

A few hours later, Kylo sits on the couch, sandwiched in-between Hux and Phasma, Mitaka having the courtesy to sit on the floor so as not to crowd everyone further as they all eat dinner in another long bit of uncomfortable silence.

“So, Kylo,” Hux starts, shattering the silence and wiping his mouth with a napkin before directing his attentions to Kylo, who perks up in gratification for Hux’s sudden words which made the atmosphere bearable, at the very least.

“Tell me about yourself,” Hux suggests, and Kylo actually ponders what to tell him. His own life has been akin to a soap opera, dramatic, saddening, and at times completely boring and predictable.

“Not much to tell. I was born to a General who was and still is very successful at her job, got involved in a nasty war earlier on in her life, where she met my father. Later on, she became a General in one of the lesser known wars and won,”

“Dad wasn’t around much, and neither was she but at least mom had a reason and made efforts,” He replies bitterly, chewing a chunk of his chicken, and an immediate look of regret crosses Hux’s features.

Before Hux can open his mouth to apologize, Kylo interrupts him without even intending to.

“Grew up an angry and confused teenager at a weird ass school my Uncle ran. It was a weird religious school that wasn’t really a religious, or an actual religion at all but that’s a whole ‘nother can of worms,” he continues, fiddling with his fork and trying to think of anything that could possibly be interesting.

“I ended up getting expelled when I got into an ugly fight with the other students, by then I was old enough to set off onto my own, so I did. I’ve been going from job-to-job for years now and trying to make steady income. That’s about it,” Kylo shrugs, and Hux’s mouth opens, closes, and he blinks, unsure of what to say or do, but most likely wishing he could time-travel and tell himself from a few minutes ago just to shut up.

“I’m sorry,” Hux murmurs, gazing at Kylo with sympathy and something that seems to be understanding. Kylo gives him a look of utter confusion, shaking his head.

“Why? None of this is your fault, or anybody’s really,” Kylo assures him, even though he’s sure that he’s very aware. He still seems to be upset on Kylo’s behalf and that enough is bewildering and strangely kind.

“Maybe that will help you understand me better. I don’t even understand myself, if I’m being completely honest,” He confesses, and the general feeling he has is that Hux does seem to understand him better, on some level at least. That’s good enough for him, and he sincerely hopes that Hux feels at least a little bit more comfortable.

~

Kylo has decided to take Hux to his second workplace, also known as the small self-defense building he teaches at. He has quite a few students there, of various ages, from elderly to children.

Hux sits on his stomach on the slightly elevated top of the wooden stairs a far distance away from where Kylo is currently instructing an elderly lady, watching with mild boredom as his head rests in his hand, seafoam eyes flickering between the two.

“Now, lets say in a scenario you know your attacker to be male. There’s the obvious choice of how to defend yourself and that is…” Kylo begins, waiting for the gray-haired woman to finish.

“This!” She croaks almost cheerfully, raising her leg and kicking him right in his groin. Kylo groans, having expected her just to give him a verbal answer instead of actually nailing him in the dick, and keels over, writhing in pain.

Hux feels a bit of sympathy, but he can’t deny the sadist in him is exceptionally amused as he cracks a smile.

“Yeah! Good job, Addeline,” Kylo hisses through clenched teeth, pain wracking his body as he feebly attempts to get up again. Who knew she still had it in her? She pats him apologetically on the shoulder, and shambles away so the next scenario can be taught.

~

“How was work?” Phasma asks, eyeing the duo as they enter the house. Kylo looks to be in low spirits and Hux looks indifferent, which seems to be the norm for him. Kylo offers a sardonic smile, Hux slipping away wordlessly most likely heading to bed, because his almost zombie-ish body language certainly told her he was exhausted.

“Got kicked in my dick,” Kylo replies with mocking cheerfulness, and Phasma is at a loss for how to react and what to say.

“Oh! I’m...sorry,” She fumbles, but Kylo nods it off, curly raven hair bouncing about as he does, slumping down slowly on the couch, wanting nothing more than to take his mind off of the events today at work.

“What’s with Hux?” She asks, sliding onto the seat next to Kylo, desperate to change the subject, or at least put Kylo in a better mood.

“I wish I knew. He won’t tell me, so it’s none of my business anyway,” He grunts, offering a shrug. From how close she is to him, Phasma notices Kylo is growing out facial hair, something that he doesn’t usually do unless he’s fallen into a rut of some sort.

“I’m sure he’ll open up soon. To you, at least...he doesn’t really seem to like me, but he likes you on some level, I think,” She murmurs thoughtfully, Kylo perking up in interest at her words, the last ones at least. Phasma is much better at picking up on things like that than he is, so it gives him some spark of hope.

Out of the blue, Phasma starts cackling at him, the noise becoming even louder at Kylo’s look of apparent bewilderment as he knits his dark eyebrows at her questioningly.

“You want him to like you, don’t you?” She giggles, Kylo shooting her a nervous glare in response, putting on an almost over-exaggerated scowl at her assumption (which is correct, whether he likes it or not).

“I do not! I could care less what he thinks,” He huffs, which is too true to some degree to entirely call it a lie. She grins, deciding to let it go for his sake, because if it were up to her she’d never let him hear the end of it.

Hux listens to this with interest, sitting cross-legged in the doorway of Kylo’s bedroom as his ears flicker back and forth like radio antenna, honing into every word. Why would Kylo, of all people, want _his_ attentions or to be liked by him? Especially now he’s in this...supernatural body, whereas before he was the closest to normal he’d ever get. He genuinely doesn’t understand this, why he affects Kylo so much, but he wants to.  
~

By the time Kylo’s nodded off Phasma is still awake, Hux observing her habits with interest. From what he can decipher she’s a night-owl, similar to him back before...this happened. He wants to interrogate her about the conversation earlier, but he also doesn’t want to wake Kylo, so he tries to signal her over to the backyard deck.

After a few minutes of confused glances at his odd hand gestures she finally understands and gets up, creeping into the backyard with Hux fast at her heels.

“I know eavesdropping is rude, but I couldn’t help overhear you and Kylo speaking earlier, and I have to ask...what does he find so interesting about me?” Hux queries, sitting in a green fabric lawn chair, across from Phasma who sits in a wooden lawn chair. She looks surprised at his question, studying him wordlessly for a second, seemingly carefully choosing her words.

“He likes you. He wants to know what makes you tick, where you came from, and why you’re here now,” She honestly replies, and Hux digests this in the almost-silence, cicadas singing too loudly to call it “silence” at all.

A strong gust of cool wind blows out of nowhere, making Hux’s hair float, Phasma’s whips a bit in it, before it disappears as soon as it had come. Some leaves drift slowly off of the trees almost as an afterthought, moth-shaped shadows show up on the peeling wood of the deck as they desperately try to cling to the deck light, which they don’t understand they can’t get.

“I see,” He quietly murmurs after a few more seconds, bouncing his right leg which is crossed over his left, unsure of what to do with this information and still confused as to why he was so interesting.

The conversation left him with more questions than answers, and it makes him feel deeply dissatisfied inside, but he doesn’t complain as they quietly slip inside and turn the outside light on, silence reigning once more in the house. Hux sits himself in front of the slumbering Kylo, studying him in the limited light the television offers, daring to reach out a pale hand and touch his cheek, tracing the remnants of a fading scar that goes from his eyebrow down to his jawline.

The healing skin’s texture is different from the rest of his skin, sleeker somehow. It’s nice to touch, Hux thinks absentmindedly to himself.

His inquisitive fingers brush past a soft curl, which he reaches back up to touch again, marveling in how soft, thick, and dark it is.

Upon further inspection, Kylo’s face is rather attractive, more information he has no idea what to do with, but is necessary to him for some reason. His eyelashes lay dark against the otherwise almost pale face, cheeks dotted with freckles and moles, his chest rising and falling slowly with every dream-laced breath he takes.

Hux realizes he’s being incredibly odd and intrusive, so he rises quickly and walks back to Kylo’s room in reflective silence, before literally diving into the bed and closing his tired eyes, falling into sleep soon after. He’ll figure all of this out tomorrow.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I think this is one of my more shorter chapters for this fic, and for that I apologize, but I felt guilty about not getting something out, considering I'm working on finishing one of my fics atm and I got a bit hyperfixated on that. There's tiny bits of plot in this, as well as character perspective and general good old weirdness. Hope you guys enjoyed!


	5. Fears and the past revealed

Warm blindingly light rays of sunlight filter into Kylo’s unusually clean (thanks to Hux) living room through the freshly wiped-down glass, oddly warm for the beginning of Autumn. Hux has been with him for a week now and no progress of any sort has been made by either of them, due to stubbornness, or fear. Perhaps both. Phasma has left to go back to her own home, and now both of their respective shielding is gone, leaving them to either stew further in the pathetic, droll silence, or alternatively, finally actually sit down and have dialogue and understanding.

Hux is not one for opening up, never has been and he suspects he never will be. It’s useless to speak about the issues, especially if you can’t solve them, and in his case that is especially so. It was also “suggested” to him by his father that “real men” deal with their own issues by themselves, no matter how hard. Not that Hux gives two good goddamns what his dead father thinks on the matter.

Kylo, on the other hand, has issues conveying what goes through his cluttered mind, so he uses actions, but not everybody picks up on them so easily, himself excluded, which is a gift and an awful curse wrapped in a neat little bow. He can see Hux’s mannerisms through the way he speaks, walks, holds himself, but yet somehow, Hux is still a enigmatic being to him.

What he sees through Hux’s actions is a snide, intelligent, confident and strategic person, but when he opens his mouth he hears the exact opposite (on the confidence most especially), all except for the intelligence, which constantly proves itself in snarky jabs.

They’ve both been slinking about the house, in poorly attempted secrecy as if they could hide from each other when they both live in the same damned house. It’s ridiculous, and juvenile, but it’s the rut they’ve dug themselves into, and whether they want to admit it to themselves or not they want to get out of it. Desperately.

Hux hasn’t had chances for building relationships or friendships, either, between getting turned into...this, and vigilantly working up the ranks of his former workplace. Mitaka was and still is just an acquaintance, and that term being used extremely liberally as well, considering Hux was his higher up.

He shudders thinking about the stiff formal meetings he used to endure with his own higher ups, business associates and their families where only a few stiff words and forced greetings were said, and then the ghastly silence that followed, which made everything feel so much more artificial.

As of late, since his brain has been unscrambled, at least, he’s had bitter thoughts about how all of his hard work, hours upon hours, days flying by like insects wasted doing paperwork, making phone calls, being forced into doing his father’s dirty work, all of his sleepless nights spent blearily looking over documents and making decisions which should’ve been pondered over at least two days longer, all of his sacrifices of potential happiness wasted for naught.

Half of his life wasted for absolutely fucking _nothing_ , and it makes his blood boil, and his eyes water in the strangest mixture of divine fury and profound grief he’s ever experienced. Why had he even bothered?

The ultimate irony in the situation was that _he_ was always the one telling himself it could all come toppling down in a matter of seconds, but the rational side of his brain has shut that down and dismissed it due to paranoia. But he had been right, and it hurts all the more now to know. Yet, somehow, it gives him closure, knowing now he doesn’t have to do it anymore, the painstaking work, the paranoia-inducing success, the facade that no longer has to be put up anymore, and it leaves him feeling oh so free, and immensely terrified.

After all, it was all he had known.

~

In many ways, they were similar. If they would actually sit down, speak to one another, they’d realize that, and perhaps find solace in one another. But instead they sit about a foot away from one another on Kylo’s awful, lumpy couch, and drink in silence, and in Hux’s case, some green tea as well, which he takes occasional slow sips of, out of one of Kylo’s three porcelain teacups, with multicolored wildflowers painted in a band around it.

The TV provides them background noise, which makes it so it technically isn’t silent, a sort of loophole to get out of having to talk. Mitaka’s anxiousness has seemed to intensify as a result of this brooding quiet, his whining has increased tenfold. His enhanced senses also tell him that both Kylo and Hux are becoming increasingly despondent as a result of their internalized fears and stubbornness, which has caused this and in result has the effect of a snake biting its own tail; a misery cycle, if you will.

Every single time Hux’s hand accidentally brushes against Kylo’s when shifting in his seat, or walking past him into another room, Kylo can feel his heart vault in his chest, followed by flooding warmth, almost like a warm pool of water.

Mitaka picks up on this as well, and it isn’t exactly rocket science for him to understand why his body reacts in such a way, even though Kylo seems to be in persistent, adamant denial of it. Hux is in the “curiosity stage” as Mitaka dubs it internally, meanwhile, poor Kylo has already sprinted halfway through the stages so fast he doesn’t know left from right.

Mitaka may not know everything, but he sure as hell knows that to progress in anything, there needs to be planning, careful thought, consideration, and dialogue before there can be headway. They haven’t even gotten to the first part of that, so this is going to take a while unless they realize they’re very much two sides of the same coin.

The weather is pleasantly cool today, Hux seeming far more used to it than Kylo, who has cocooned himself in at least three warm, fluffy blankets, the only thing visible being his face. Hux appears to be heavily amused by this, a smile present on his face though he says nothing.

Kylo rises silently, shuffling towards the back door while clutching his many blankets in a vice grip, the telltale slide and click of the sliding door telling Hux he’s vacated to the backyard, leaving only himself and Mitaka, who tells him with his eyes that he should follow and finally strike up a conversation.

“Fine,” He sighs, itchy nervousness creeping into him as he rises and hesitantly follows, Mitaka allowing himself some rest, resting his chin on his paws, celebrating this small but necessary victory in his head.

Hux slowly opens the sliding glass door, peering out into the slowly but steadily darkening backyard as the sun finishes setting in the distant horizon, painting the sky and clouds a vibrant lavender, which reminds Hux of the many lavender plants he had passed by on his journeys, before Kylo had brought him back to his senses.

Kylo lay on his back, watching the clouds pass by and the sky get progressively darker through the hole he’s made for his face, amber eyes taking in every detail, brushstroke of every various cloud with the intrigue of an artist.

Hux paces over to where Kylo lay, enjoying the softness of the grass on his bare feet as he gets closer, hands linked behind his back and his thumbs twirling about one another, a nervous habit he has.

 

Kylo turns his head over when Hux stands a few inches away, looking a bit surprised at Hux’s sudden want to interact, considering they haven’t for a good five days now. Judging by Kylo’s shocked silence, he’ll have to make the first move.

“May I sit next to you?” He murmurs politely, gesturing to a place beside Kylo, which looks oddly comfortable.

“Uh..sure,” Kylo responds awkwardly, his tone of voice conveying he’s shocked Hux wants to be anywhere near him.

“Thank you,” Hux says softly, taking his seat and laying back, unsure if he’s too close for Kylo’s comfort and briefly considering moving, considering if he moved his arm just so, it’d brush against where he guessed Kylo’s was, protected by his blankets, which are sort of resembling armor, he muses to himself.

It’s nice being able to watch clouds, he thinks, having never had the time or expendable energy to do so before, the grass framing him and the man next to him in soft green tufts, a bit higher than it should be, which adds a sort of wild charm to it.

“Kylo?” Hux starts nervously, swallowing the ever-growing lump inside his throat, fiddling with some pieces of grass in between his fingers.

“Yes?” Kylo responds, a bit of excitement in his voice, most likely because they’re actually talking again.

“I-if I tell you...about me...and how I got to be the way I am...would you believe me?” He stutters, a rarity for him, ever since he lost his stutter during childhood.

“Of course,” Kylo replies, sounding shocked Hux would even dare think he would think he was lying.

Hux inhales, shutting his eyes tightly, and clenching his fists, preparing himself for any possible reaction, whether it be laughter, or disbelief, or whatever.

“I wasn’t always like this. I’m sure that’s obvious,” He laughs at himself, and is blessed to hear Kylo laugh along with him, melodic and reverberating deep in his chest. Hux’s ears and tail twitch almost in unison, as if verifying his words.

“When I was a child, my father treated me awfully. I don’t want to get into details, but, it was bad. I wasn’t interested in wars or paperwork, or anything of the sort. I loved exploring, climbing trees, foraging through forests on my own,”

“He despised me for it. He wanted me to be a little soldier, serious, ferocious, but that’s not who I was...back then, at least. I dreamed of running away to live in the forests, but even then my 7 year old mind knew he’d still manage to find me, so I made my own creative spin on it,”

Kylo listens in awed silence, having turned his entire body over so that all of his attention was honed intently on Hux, and Hux only.

“I prayed and wished, with all of my little heart that I’d turn into an animal, a fox, so that I would be disguised and well hidden in the forest, so he could never find me again. It never came true, so I was forced to live with him until I got a job at his company, under the boss, Snoke,”

“Snoke was...how do I say this? Evil, decrepit, cruel, warped and most likely soulless. I’m no angel either, but there was something wrong with him...a lot of somethings. Amongst many of those things, he was highly skilled in the field of magic. He was a witch, of some sort, and a very powerful one at that,”

“Everyone was rightfully terrified of him, myself, my father, and Mitaka included. He ruled with an iron fist and any minor mistake was dealt with punishments so severe they’d give the strongest of people nightmares to last months. We were at war with an opposing side, our side believing we had the upper hand before one of our main bases was exploded,”

“We lost about half of our soldiers that day. The base had been my project, and I had been assigned to it, to watch and make sure all was running as it should’ve been. I was devastated, and horrified of what punishment was to come,”

“Mitaka, thankfully, was at another base, but when I came before The Supr-..Snoke, he vouched for me, pleaded for my life and told him it wasn’t my fault and nothing could have prevented it. Snoke was so amused by this he cast a spell on him, resulting in the Mitaka you know today,”

“‘What a loyal _dog_ you are to your dear General,’ he had hissed, before casting it. The guilt for Starkiller seemed about equal now for the guilt about Mitaka. I told him to undo it, because it was not Mitaka’s fault, it was mine and I deserved punishment. He only seemed to get more amused by my words,”

“He also unfortunately had the power of mind reading, so he sifted through all of my memories until he found one, the one I told you of earlier, of me praying to become a fox,”

“‘A fox, eh? So it shall be. _Pray_ I never see your face again,’ and with that, I was a fox...at least, I thought I was, but it must’ve backfired or partially worn off, because I seem to be in the between state. The old fool was dying, and he knew it, but he still persisted in the war, until he ended up dying before the opposition was planning a raid to finally end the long, bloody war,”

“From what I heard the remaining soldiers were all arrested and put to trial. A lot of us were brainwashed, or “reconditioned” as they called it. It was awful, abhorrent and painful. I did awful things for him, for the Order, so I understand if you think I’m a despicable person,” Hux finishes, a very brief silence issuing before Kylo finally speaks up.

“W-what happened to you? After he turned you, I mean,” Kylo clarifies, and Hux realizes he hadn’t given resolution to that particular part.

“I did as he told me to and never showed my face ever again, left confused, disoriented, with Mitaka at my side. I lived in the forests from year-to-year, traveling, hunting, until my mind slowly became that of a fox’s. The more humanity I lost, the more of a fox I became, until you saved me, that is,”

“The kicker to all of this is, Snoke was loaded, but he was a greedy old bastard so our wages were lackluster, if even that. He had treasures beyond your wildest imaginations and I know exactly where they are, because I was his right hand man,” He barks out a bitter laugh, before realization hits both of them squarely in the jaw, making them turn their heads in unison and gape at one another.

“Holy shit! Do you know what this means?” Kylo exclaims, and Hux nods rapidly, looking like a bobblehead in the process which makes Kylo laugh.

“It’s a long way from here, but it is in this country,” Hux whispers, excitement painting his words. They’re both mentally planning what to do with their share when a thought strikes Kylo.

_“When he gets his money he’ll probably disappear and I’ll never see him again,”_ the thought replaces his excitement with deep sorrow. He’s almost certain that’s what is going to be the end of all this, of all the weird adventures and hijinks. He’s gotten his resolution, but he’s coming to the slow but painful realization that resolution isn’t what he’s wanted this entire time, but rather, Hux himself.

“So, uh, what are you going to do with your money?” Kylo queries, trying not to let his melancholy show, offering a small smile to the redhead beside him, whose mind is swimming with so many thoughts and possibilities that it’s nearly making his head feel like it’s at full capacity (and then some).

“I don’t know. I’m definitely not going back to my family, that’s a given. I’m also most likely going to seek out a witch to help me reverse my...situation, and Mitaka’s as well. I owe it to him, at the very least,”

Kylo’s heart aches at Hux’s words. He really does think of himself as some kind of monstrosity, doesn’t he? That’s something Kylo can resonate with, and has personally felt for himself too. While he’ll have money, and a nice house and be ensured food and things he’s always wanted, he won’t have Hux, and it won’t feel the same, no matter how many fancy things he’ll try to buy to fill the void Hux will leave behind.

“You know, you don’t have to if you don’t want to. You said being a fox gave you the freedom you lacked before, didn’t you? You sounded so happy,” Kylo rambles, Hux shooting him a confused look laced with mild hopefulness.

“Everyone who isn’t you and who doesn’t understand will think I’m a monster and try to kill me or sell me to the government or something. Unless I go into hiding or fix this, there’s no other options,” Hux sighs, shrugging.

“I obviously can’t stop you, but know that I don’t think you’re a monster, not in the slightest. I think you’re the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen, with or without a tail and ears,” Kylo blurts out, before immediately realizing what a foolish thing he’d just said and covering his mouth with his hand.

Hux looks at him with widened seafoam eyes, frantically studying his face as if trying to find signals of deceit, seemingly panicking when he finds none, before quickly turning away as if the praise had scalded him.

“You don’t have to say that, I’m really not…” He mumbles, Kylo noticing his eyes getting wetter, even though his head is turned in the opposite direction.

“I think you are, and there’s nothing you can do to change my opinion,” Kylo persists, shimmying out of the blankets and reaching a tentative hand out to touch Hux’s warm, pale, freckled shoulder. Hux jolts, before slowly turning to meet Kylo’s soft gaze, his vision a bit blurry due to the tears.

“Why are you so nice to me?” Hux asks, a genuine question, because he honestly doesn’t understand why anybody would be nice to him, considering before all of this he cared for nobody for himself, his own selfish needs. He has hurt people, and he’s all but certain he’ll never be able to make restitution for it.

“I see a lot of myself in you. A-and I like you, because you’re interesting and smart, and you’re capable and clean, and your jokes are funny and original, and because you don’t expect anything out of me or try to change me; you just accept me,” Kylo confesses, gnawing at the inside of his mouth, his eyes flickering to Hux’s briefly before returning to the grass.

Mitaka watches all of this through the glass of the sliding door, thinking to himself _“Well, I’ll be damned,”_ and feeling more smug than he has in about a decade, long black tail thumping a pleased rhythm against the hardwood floors as he waits in impatient silence for this to progress.

 

The duo sit in a stunned silence, so close to each other, closer than they’ve ever been both in physical proximity and mental understanding. Uncharacteristically, Hux is the one who inches his fingers closer to Kylo’s, until he weaves both pairs together, hoping to whatever is up there, whether it be a god, or just billions of twinkling stars, that he isn’t misreading this situation.

_“Why me? Why me of all people? Of anybody?”_ still rings out in his head, as he studies the man next to him, who could easily be happier and better off with someone who isn’t like Hux...but still, he pursues, and still he thinks Hux is beautiful.

_“He could’ve left me to starve and die, to be a feral beast forever, but he saved me..”_

Everything seems to amplify in this moment, a sort of nervous but joyous heat rises, out of a cool September night, shared in their held hands, and felt in their rapidly beating hearts, which disperse it through their bodies. The sound of cicadas and rustling grass seems almost deafening now in their silence, almost distracting, but not enough for their minds, which seem to be linked in utter focus on this moment, on this day, because this is important, more important than most of what has happened to them in their pasts, because this is the beginning of a future.

And damn it all, Kylo is absentmindedly doing that stupidly soothing thing with his thumb, running it across the top of Hux’s hand, whose grip has tightened as if afraid to let go, lest this moment evaporate into the clouds. It’s making Hux drowsy, but he has no time to be drowsy, because this is too goddamn important. But he’s terrified, more so than Kylo.

Kylo, at least, has had some experience. Hux had always secretly craved the idea of something more, something more than paperwork, and working long hours into the nights, and those quite frankly fucking unnecessary business meetings that solved absolutely nothing. Of a friend, of somebody who would care for him, of something he could escape to when everything else became too much.

And now that the opportunity is here, he’s twice as scared of fucking it all up. But what is there to fuck up, now that (almost) everything has been said?

Sudden black poisonous fear seizes Hux and he retracts his hand quickly, leaving Kylo looking shocked, and visibly hurt for about a nanosecond before managing to change his expression to a stony neutral almost-frown, eyes downcast.

“I-I need to go to bed,” Hux stutters, getting up quickly, so quickly in fact that he leaves his blankets behind in his desperation to get into the house and behind a locked door, away from Kylo. Not because he dislikes him (which he doesn’t, quite the opposite), but because if he sees that hurt look in his eyes again then he’ll feel more like a monster than he does now.

When the door shuts behind him, lock clicking into place, he slides down the door, laying in a ball on the floor with his back pressed against the cool wood, arms linked around his legs as he slowly rocks himself, something he hasn’t done since he was a child. He had nobody to do it for him back then, after all.

As odd as it sounds, he swears he can still feel Kylo’s hand clasped into his, like the act has been branded into his skin, and continues to play on repeat as if to torment his already addled mind more.

He’s so caught up in his own mind he’s alarmed to feel warm wetness rolling down his cheek. Tears. He scours his mind for the last time he ever remembered crying and can’t even come up with an answer for himself. Somewhere between eight and ten years old, he thinks. That time period was the worst in his life, and he has no desire to relive it, so he just drops it, wishing he could just turn off his mind so he could have peace, if only for a few seconds.

He exhales shakily, getting up and wiping his eyes with his sleeve, wobbling a bit on his way to the bed, Kylo’s bed, which has been so graciously given to him without any prompting whatsoever.

He quickly slides under the covers, covering his head with them as he closes his eyes and tries to force himself to sleep. When he finally falls asleep, his first dream is of Kylo, chasing after him in a field of wildflowers, his boisterous laughter echoing, Hux turns back and grins widely at Kylo, who grins in response, looking so jubilant, so in love that it makes Hux’s heart ache with the want to see Kylo look at him like that, too in denial to realize that he already has.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am so very sorry for disappearing for (3?) months, but I got caught up in Summer vacation and my birthday and gifts, etc. Who knew Animal Crossing and Pokemon Moon were so time consuming? 
> 
> So, uh, yeah... major plot...angst. Btw, I just wanted to thank everyone who gave their theories about Hux. They were all so cool and I'm sad I couldn't incorporate all of them, otherwise I would, but I still managed to incorporate some and have it make sense. 
> 
> I'm working on the next two chapters, the next one is pretty much finished but I need to polish it, and then we should be good. Also, I don't think this counts as a spoiler, but 6 is going to be in the past (just wanted to let you guys know so you're not like wait wtf is going on lmao)
> 
> Again, thank you all for reading, commenting, kudo'ing, and etc. I really do appreciate it, and I hope you enjoyed this chapter!


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I just wanted to remind you guys in case you're confused the majority of this chapter takes place in the past, which is probably obvious. Oops.

Vibrations and thunderous booms rock the underground cavern, so much that rocks fall from the ceiling, plunking into the depths below, never to be seen again by anyone other than the fish flitting about, equally as panicked as the humans above them.

Hux stands at attention, hands clenched and fingernails digging into his palms, which are not covered by the protective layer of gloves, a rarity.  He’s nearly bleeding, but he still clenches his fist, still subtly gnaws at the inside of his cheek, but his eyes are only focused on the Supreme Leader.

“You have failed me, General. This loss is catastrophic, and could’ve been easily avoided...but you got arrogant,” The elder snarls, gnarled face bared in a deep scowl as his icy blue eyes pierce right through Hux, who would rather be dead at that moment.

Mitaka stand next to him, using every bit of his composure to not begin shaking like a leaf as the explosions become more frequent, louder and closer in proximity. He has no idea why he followed Hux here, but he can’t change his decision now.

“You’re absolutely right, Supreme Leader, this is a result of my error in judgement. I am deeply-,”

“Sorry will not fix this! I should have your head for this!” Snoke booms, Hux recoiling, as the massive man grips the arms of his throne tightly in his wrinkled hands, as if tempted to break it. Mitaka swallows, knowing if he dare turn tail and run he’d be dead in an instant, though the thought is tempting. He feels trapped, knowing they don’t have much time to vacate, or be killed, so a rare streak of boldness runs through him.

“It’s not entirely the general’s fault, Supreme Leader, to be entirely fair the Knight you posted here failed his du-,” Mitaka began, before Snoke fixed him with a stare that promised death if he dare speak another syllable.

“My, my, my, Mitaka. What a loyal dog you are to your general,” Snoke hissed, his own words sparking in him an idea, as he set Mitaka with a stare. Mitaka, unfortunately caught on too late and before he even knew it, Snoke murmured something under his breath and Mitaka shrank down, fur growing all over his body, hands and feet turned into paws, and a long fluffy tail sprouting from his back.

Hux’s composure broke, as he shot both the man and his former underling turned dog a horrified face.

“Sir, he was just doing as he’s been taught, defending me. He can’t help it, that was entirely unnecessary. I will gladly take both of our punishments, but leave him out of this. This was entirely my doing, and we both know this,” Hux babbled, another uncharacteristic thing for him to do.

As soon as his words left his lips, he felt pain, piercing and constant, emanating from his own head. He knew Snoke was flipping through his memories like a storybook, because memories were rapidly flashing behind his now closed eyes. It felt like a snake, slithering around in his brain, looking for one specific thought.

“I see,” Snoke murmurs lowly, sounding and looking exceptionally pleased with himself as he stares Hux down, before he pulls out of his mind, leaving Hux reeling, stumbling backwards with the force of it.

“You prayed to be a fox, did you? Poor little Armitage Hux, the bastard whose father despised him, and who never got to know his birth mother. Did he ever tell you she worked in the kitchens?” Snoke sneered, and Hux grit his teeth, wanting nothing more than to shoot the beast in front of him with his gun, which lay temptingly close within his great-coat pocket.

“Your peers despised you too. Because of your father’s influencing you were climbing the ranks faster than they could ever dream of, and still you’re a _colossal failure_. I should’ve never taken pity on you,”

Hux could take no more, quickly reaching into his pocket and drawing his weapon, aiming at Snoke’s heart, and pulling the trigger. With little more than a flick of his wrist, Snoke swatted the bullet away like a fly, with an unseen force. It hit the opposing wall, getting lodged in the stone.

Hux was certainly dead now, but he was fine with this. He no longer wanted to be a pawn of this, this foul beast who dared go through his mind and memories, who dared doubt his worth. He stared...and waited for his inevitable demise.

“No. You will not get the easy way out this time. A fox, eh? So shall it be. _Pray_ I never see your face again,” With those words, Hux went through a transformation, like Mitaka’s, but with a different outcome. He stared blearily at his blacked paws,

“Go!” Snoke yelled, Hux scrambling out of the cavern clumsily on his four new paws, Mitaka following suit as the cavern slowly caved in with a nearly deafening crash.

 

`~

 

Just as they shot out of the entrance, the entire thing collapsed. They stare back at the destruction, mouths open and panting, tongues lolling out like animals. Well, they were animals now, weren’t they? Hux rushed on ahead, paws leaving prints on the dirt as he briskly moved ahead of Mitaka, who struggled to keep up.

 _“What are you doing, sir?”_ he asked, or rather, barked, to his former superior. Hux turned back, looking as alarmed as a fox could look, his long whiskers twitching.

 _“Looking for water,”_ He responds with a yip, as if it’s the most rational thing in the entire world.

 _“No offense, sir, but we should be getting the bloody hell out of dodge,”_ Mitaka barks worriedly, still struggling to keep pace.

 _“Why? He’s surely dead,”_ Hux scoffs contemptuously, slowing down a bit so Mitaka could finally keep up with his formerly speedy pace.

 _“Yes, but the bombers aren’t,”_ Mitaka reminds him with a low, worried whine. Well, he’s not wrong, but Hux is still adamant about finding that water, so they continue their trek onward, into the dense forest with the intense smell of pine practically clogging their hypersensitive noses.

They can smell everything now, including other animals, both dead and alive. The smell of a rotting carcass is still as intensely unappealing as it is when human, they are learning. Hux has a sudden urge to itch his ear, which he’s trying to suppress, but it still persists so he sits, long fluffy tail swishing with mild irritation over fallen pine needles as he raises his back leg and scratches, satisfaction flooding him as his other leg starts scratching the air, too.

When they hear the steady rush of water they know they’re close to their destination, and when they emerge from the last line of pines, they are met with the sight of a gorgeous lake, the azure water sparkles with the reflection of the nearly setting sun.

Hux rushes over, without so much as a care for Mitaka, who follows him cautiously, and then he’s at the waterfront, staring at his own reflection. He sees what he expects; the face of a fox staring back at him with mouth wide open and tongue poking out, sharp canines and a pointed nose. Firey orange fur with white and black in certain places; chest, feet, muzzle, outlining his ears. As well as a muted gray along some places on his tail.

He’s surprisingly numb about all of this, considering he’s just lost his job, not that it was much of a job in the first place, having that creepy gnarled tree stump of an employer breathing down his neck at any given moment.

He bends his head down, lapping up some water, unused to having to use his tongue for such purposes. It’s long and strangely flexible, so it works, and he tries not to think about it too much because he knows he’ll have to get used to it.

_“Sir-"_

_“Don’t call me that. I’m not your superior anymore. You’re free to do as you please,”_ Hux barks rather gruffly, not wanting honorifics or any titles anymore. He never truly wanted them in the first place, he just convinced himself he had. It didn’t fill the void in his life, it never had, and it’s taken this to make him realize it.

Mitaka eyes him, not fully processing that yes, he could leave, and do whatever he wanted to do, or at least as much as he could given his current state. He’d been given orders his entire life, and while it had been exhausting at times it kept him sane.

 _“What are you going to do with yourself?”_ Is all Mitaka can manage, worried more for Hux than himself.

 _“I don’t know,”_ Hux says honestly, turning around and walking a few paces away to a patch of some grass, which is welcomed, much more so than pine needles. He lay down, head on his paws as he tries to come up with a plan, an idea, anything.

Hux heaves a sigh, his usually extraordinary strategy and planning skills seemingly leaving him along with his former body. It certainly doesn’t help that people hunt foxes, and the thought of being shot at or chased by a pack of snarling, drooling hunting dogs is too much to manage right now. If he were able to rub his temples, he would. He has absolutely no desire to have his rear end turned into a hat, as morbidly amusing as the thought may be.

As awful as it is, he’s somewhat jealous of Mitaka for being turned into an animal that is generally seen as more approachable. He’s adorable, for god’s sakes, with his curly haired ears and long wagging tail. Then again, he’s never had it easy so he’s not entirely surprised he’s gotten the short end of the stick.

Then there’s the matter of food, hunting. Hux had never hunted for food when he was human, simply bought meat from the grocery store like most people, and cooked it at home. Now he can’t exactly break into a home and start using someone’s stove, or go into a grocery store for that matter. That leaves other wildlife, and he can already feel how tedious this is going to become.

And he doesn’t even allow the thought of digging through garbage, absolutely not. He’s far too dignified for such things, and sniffs at even the prospect of smelling like week old meat and garbage juice. Disgusting.

As he ponders this, Mitaka waits, tail wagging and loyal as ever, still awaiting instructions, as if Hux’s earlier words meant nothing to him at all, which they didn’t. Hux technically hadn’t _ordered_ him to go away, so he would gladly use that as a loophole.

Hux doesn’t even seem to notice him as he meticulously thinks out every aspect of his new life, and what new responsibilities it entails. He just lay there, eyes closed, making up scenario after scenario so as to better prepare himself for what is to come.

 

~

 

One year into living in the wild, Hux realizes his memories of his human life are slowly but surely dissipating into nothingness, like the file cabinet of memories in his brain is slowly being swallowed by the void, into inky black nothingness. Mitaka, despite all of Hux’s protests, still stays by his side, vigilant and persistent. He makes for a good hunting partner.

 

~

 

Two years into living in the wild, Hux’s own name is slipping from him. Arguably, he’s not Hux. He hasn’t been since that fateful day two years ago in the cavern when everything changed. He’s just a fox now. Mitaka still remembers a lot, but his memory is failing too. Just not as severely as Hux’s. Hux would never admit it out loud but he enjoys Mitaka’s company.

  
~

 

Three years into living into the wild, and the fox has all but forgotten being human. He only knows the seasons, the cycles of the moon, and his companion. He needs only food and water and sleep, and nothing more. Humanity seems like a distant afterthought, something that was once there but is needed no more. Sometimes his companion eyes him strangely, but he pays it no mind.

 

~

 

Five years into living in the wild and the fox rummages through unsuspecting people’s garbage bins, digging and finding whatever will keep him from wasting into bones or dying altogether. His packmate comes and goes but always ends up finding him in the long run. He likes rough housing but there’s very little time for games, especially when there’s predators out there, lurking behind trees with glowing eyes and sharp teeth.

 

~

 

Ten years into living in the wild, Hux eyes the garbage can in the backyard of a shoddy house in a small neighborhood of houses. For some reason, this one calls to him and promises good things to come. He follows the calls, and tips the shining metal treasure trove over, prying off the lid and scavenging. He hears shouts and when he looks up he meets the eyes of a dark haired, dark eyed tall human man, who stares back at him with equal amounts of astonishment, and approaches. He backs off, if slightly when Hux growls, and speaks to him in a language long forgotten by his twitching ears, until he escapes with his prize in between his teeth, and a new cornucopia to come back to later.

 

~

 

Ten years into living in the wild...and he’s not living in the wild. The strange human man has trapped him inside, luring him with the prospect of food. He’s willing to fight tooth and nail to stay alive, to fight this potential predator if need be. Until he gets too tired of being hypervigilant and lets the human get his way. He does not understand why the human insists on pouring water on him, but it is somehow familiar.

 

~

 

Ten years into living in the wild and things slowly start coming back to him, making sense to him. He’s slowly understanding words. The human man is Kylo. He is Red. Food is peanut butter. It is delicious, and it is his. He will bite any thieves who dare try to steal it. Except for Kylo, when he politely asks.

 

~

 

Ten years into living in the wild and Hux finally remembers himself, as painful as it is. He stares with disgust at his reflection and wonders how it all came to this, having to be rescued like a goddamned fairy tale princess. He stares loathingly at his long fingers, tipped with black and sharp nails, at his tail which swishes back and forth without command, and pointed black tipped ears, which flicker back and forth. He remembers he has nothing, nobody except for Mitaka, and Kylo...possibly.

 

~

 

Ten years into previously being feral, Hux realizes he’s fallen in love with somebody he barely knows, and it tears him up inside with fear. After they find that treasure they’ll part ways and Kylo will never know. It might be better this way, or so he hopes with wet eyes and an aching heart. His rescuer, his friend, someone he knows he’ll never forget, even when he’s old and nearly senile. When Kylo smiles at him or laughs he feels like he’s home. Then he remembers he never had a home in the first place.

 

He wants Kylo to hold his hand again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, guys! Hope you liked this mostly angsty chapter and now I guess you know in depth how Hux came to be a fox. Also, if you're wondering about that line "His companion stares at him strangely" it's because Snoke's spell didn't fully work and that's when he slowly started reverting to half a human and Mitaka's like "wtf is going on here" lmao.
> 
> I plan to try to update Business Proposal next, but don't worry because this fic will most be certainly finished by at least sometime in December. Speaking of December, holy crap TLJ is only like 32 days away aaaaaaaa. I'll shut up now lmao.
> 
> Also, hopefully, I'll have Spell done by late December. Thank you all so much for your endless patience and support on all of my fics, and all of the kudos, comments, bookmarks, etc. They mean the world to me and I appreciate you all so very much.


	7. Chapter 7

When Hux leaves the bedroom early in the morning he feels awful, his head hurts, his heart hurts, and oddly enough his neck hurts. He has no idea how he got himself into a position where his neck would be tweaked, but he sure did it. If you do something, you might as well do it right, he thinks.

His days at Kylo’s are limited now, he knows this. He doesn’t want it to be so, but he can’t just intrude on someone’s life and insist on staying, especially after the way he rushed off last night. He wants so desperately to explain to Kylo why he did what he did, but he knows if he just imagined the feelings between them he’d be crushed. He refuses to risk it, for his own sake.

He’s been coming to terms with the fact he’s very in love with Kylo. Kylo, who has almost no manners, a profane mouth, drinks out of the milk carton, for christ’s sakes, but is so effortlessly charming and kind to Hux for no known reason.

He replays Kylo’s speech about him being beautiful in his mind, trying to convince himself he meant it in a friendly way, not an “I’m in love with you and think you’re beautiful” way, but it proves to be exceedingly difficult, considering the “you’re the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen” line.

He certainly doesn’t feel like it. But he can’t change Kylo’s perceptions of him, has no desire to. Hux is certain he can name at least 100 things more interesting than himself, and yet Kylo looks at him like he’s the most interesting thing on the planet. 

Hux is sitting on the couch when Kylo comes out, briefly meeting his gaze before looking away. Kylo sits down on the couch, far away from Hux, most likely thinking he needs space after last night’s events.

“Phasma’s paying for our plane tickets. I can get us the rest of the way there...with your guidance, of course,” Kylo murmurs, finally meeting Hux’s eyes.

“Yeah...of course...listen, Kylo, I’m sorry about last night. I was just...overwhelmed, but it wasn’t you, I promise,” Hux mumbles, rejoicing in the small spark of happiness he sees in Kylo’s amber gaze.

“I’m not used to people being nice to me. Excluding Mitaka, but I can’t help but feel he forces himself to because I was his superior once,” Hux confesses, Kylo reaches out his hand, not taking Hux’s, simply offering it for him to hold. Hux takes him up on the offer, his hand closing around Kylo’s.

Mitaka huffs indignantly from across the room, making Hux crack a small smile. Kylo smiles in response. Hux is finding the warmth of Kylo’s hand distracting, so he grounds himself, trying to focus. 

“And I like you, Kylo. A lot. As bad as it might sound, I don’t like very many people, but you’re definitely one of the very few exceptions,” He winces, but Kylo looks happy by this news, giving Hux’s hand a small squeeze. Hux coughs, desperate to change the subject before he says something he’ll regret.

“So, when are we leaving?” He asks Kylo, who still seems to be lifted by Hux’s praise. He snaps out of it quickly.

“Tomorrow,”

 

~

 

Hux is unused to waking up so early, so early in fact the sun hasn’t even risen yet, but is beginning to. The sky is violet, getting gradually lighter as the sun slowly makes it’s appearance for the day. Hux is packing Kylo’s clothes, on account of him having none, so he’s essentially packing for the both of them. Two birds with one stone. He folds them neatly and slots them into the suitcase, much like playing tetris he muses to himself.

Kylo is nearly dozing on the couch, desperately forcing himself to stay awake. The drive to the airport is two hours, and by then it will be open. Hux has no idea how he’s going to hide his tail and ears, moreso with his tail. He’s tied a red scarf around his head so tightly it flattens his ears against his head, and stuffs his tail in his pants, hoping it isn’t too noticeable. It’s going to be a hell of a ride.

~

 

By the time they’re on the plane Hux is already exhausted and passed out. Kylo is resting as well, arms crossed against his chest and head resting on Hux’s shoulder. Hux makes low growling noises in his sleep, Kylo hopes nobody is noticing. The plane seat is uncomfortable for him, being as bulky as he is, so he shifts uncomfortably every few minutes.

A child across the row eyes Hux with wonderment, Kylo following his gaze and noticing one of Hux’s orange ears has popped out. He tries to stuff it back into the scarf as delicately as he possibly can with his large hands, while Hux dozes on, unaware. 

 

~

 

They’ve landed hours ago, and now they’re at a small diner on the outskirts of the city, close to where they need to be. Hux has ordered a tall stack with milk, Kylo has ordered bacon, eggs, and coffee...black, predictably. 

Hux daintily cuts and spears his food, eating like a proper gentleman, while Kylo wolfs down his food, like some sort of starved dog. Oh, how the tables turn, Hux snickers internally, watching amusedly as Kylo eats, and the shocked reactions that come from it by fellow patrons. They sit across from each other in the comfortable booth, the young waitress coming back periodically and checking up on them.

Even she can barely hide her disgust at Kylo’s atrocious behavior, as she quickly walks away with a disturbed grimace, it isn’t long before Hux bursts out laughing. Kylo simply can’t help but to add to Hux’s laugh with his own booming deep one, which makes Hux’s heart do a strange little jitter in his chest in response.

 

~

 

They’ve been hiking up this path for about 45 minutes and Hux’s legs feel like noodles. He pants, bent over and wiping his sweaty face, eyes beginning to get bleary as they try to focus on the dirt path winding ahead of them. 

Meanwhile, Kylo effortlessly hikes, not even having broken a sweat. Damn him and his attractive muscular body. He probably hikes all the time, Hux grumbles internally.

“I could always carry you~,” Kylo teases, Hux scowls at him in response, making Kylo laugh at him.

“Carry this,” Hux grumbles, flipping him off. This sets Kylo off even more, seeing elegant, eloquent, prissy Hux telling him to fuck off was arguably the highlight of the entire trip.

“Manners, manners,” Kylo sarcastically chides, before swiping Hux up like a hawk and proceeding up their trek. Hux is too grateful to complain or protest, simply relaxes in his strong arms as Kylo eases them up the small mountainside, Kylo beaming the entire way up, relishing in the warmth of his fox man the entire way up. 

 

~

 

They stare into the maw of the cave, foreboding and pitch black. Kylo shines a flashlight down, gnawing the inside of his cheek as he notices sharp, pointed rocks all around just about everywhere in the cave, on the floor and ceiling. It almost looks like a mouth with craggy, sharp teeth. 

“You sure about this?” He asks, not liking their odds.

Hux’s green eyes meet his, shining with determination and mirth.

“Absolutely,” 

 

~

 

By the time they’re down the cave, they’re both bleeding a bit. Not as badly as Kylo expected, which is a plus. Hux is fussing over both of their wounds, his First-aid kit open as he sanitizes and dresses the small slashes and scratches from the many sharp rocks they’ve encountered on the descent. 

The cave smells like mildew and stale water and it’s making Kylo feel a bit weird, fuzzy in the head, but they go onward until they find the center of the cave, which makes Kylo’s jaw drop.

Diamonds, rubies, sapphires, every gem you could ever imagine, followed by gold. Gold bars, gold jewellery, gold coins, gold chalices, gold plates, gold statues. Everywhere. It looked like a pirate’s paradise, and Kylo didn’t even know where to start. His eyes almost hurt from how shiny everything was.

He just grabs, doesn’t even look, and shoves it in their many bags they’ve brought along, until that one is full, and then he moves onto the next, and repeats it again. He’s giddy by the time they’ve gotten as much as they can, especially knowing there’s more to come back to, should they ever need it. 

“We’re fuckin’ loaded,” Kylo giggles, hefting as many bags as he can as they prepare to make their trip in reverse. Hux smiles at Kylo’s giddy enthusiasm.

“That we are,”

 

~

 

They’re both extremely exhausted by the time they get back to the airport, on the plane back. The sun had set hours ago, they were nearly home, and they had a lot of things to do. Kylo’s back is aching but he’s ecstatic, as Hux snores in the seat next to him, a sunhat over his face.

When they get home, Kylo sets the bags down, Hux setting a few down as well in the living room, Mitaka sniffing them curiously. 

Then the sadness settles in, because they both know how this ends. Hux leaves, possibly even to Europe to never be seen again, while Kylo moves to a better house and saves the rest of his money for whatever he may possibly need in the next 50 or so years.

“Do you know where you’re going to go?” Kylo asks, not wanting to hear the answer, but needing some sort of closure on the situation.

“To be completely honest, I’m not sure yet. How about you?” Hux murmurs, shrugging. This is very good news to Kylo.

“I think I might build my own house. Somewhere a while away from here, or rather, just civilization in general. Up in a meadow somewhere, with a lot of grass and flowers and trees,” Kylo muses, Hux thinking about how wonderful that would be. 

Hux smiles a bit sadly, but nods, tries to look interested.

“You’re uh...always free to join me,” Kylo suggests offhandedly, not wanting to sound desperate. The small but happy grin Hux gives him in response practically melts his heart. 

“I don’t want to be a bother,” Hux mumbles, even though his mind is set. He just has to make sure…

“You’re never a bother to me, Hux,” Kylo murmurs, stepping closer to Hux. Hux raises his gaze and meets Kylo’s eyes, and sees nothing but truth, affection in his hypnotizing amber gaze. Kylo holds his hand once more and Hux is nearly melting.

“You know, it’s funny...before I met you I was fine just having a plain old boring life full of burnt toast and awful jobs...but after I met you, I wanted to have adventures with you...and now that I’ve met you, I can’t imagine a life without you,” Kylo confesses, his words heartfelt. 

Hux tries to stop himself from crying, in front of him. His heart is beating so fast, like a bird trying to escape a cage, he’s so fixated on Kylo’s words he doesn’t even notice Kylo inching closer, closer, until their noses brush softly, bringing Hux back to Earth. 

“I love you. I’ve loved you since I first set eyes on you. I love you even more with each passing day,” Kylo whispers, and against Hux’s will, his eyes are wet, rimmed with tears of relief, joy, to know he wasn’t just imagining this.

When Kylo finally kisses him, he feels like a piece of him long gone has finally come home, like everything makes sense, his life makes sense, he knows he’s shaking but he can’t stop because he’s too overjoyed, and even though he has absolutely no fucking idea what he’s supposed to do, he kisses back.

When Kylo breaks the kiss, Hux feels dizzy, which is why he grips onto his hand tighter, so as not to fall, or float, whichever may come first.

“I meant it when I said you’re the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen,” Kylo murmurs, raising his other hand to press against Hux’s flushed, hot cheek. Hux nuzzles into the contact gratefully, having so touch-starved his entire life. He’s overwhelmed, but in the best way, and as if expecting Hux to disagree with his words, he quickly kisses him again.

Mitaka howls from the couch, singing “I told you so” in dog tongue, muzzle towards the sky as he celebrates his victory.

Hux yips when Kylo picks him up, instinctively wrapping his long legs around Kylo’s waist as Kylo gazes adoringly up at him.

“And I’ll tell you I love you until I don’t even have to say it anymore for you to know I do; you’ll just feel it. I’ll still say it anyways, though,” Kylo mumbles into his skin, peppering him with kisses, which tickle him in some places, making him laugh.

“And even when I’m long dead and a ghost I’ll haunt you and tell you I love you,” Kylo continues, and the vibrations of his voice against the ticklish parts of Hux’s skin make Hux burst out into giggles, not even to mention the thought of a ghost Kylo haunting him and constantly declaring his undying (ba dum tss) love for Hux. 

“It’s funny. I never even thought about it until now, but when I was little, I dreamt often of a little ginger boy covered in freckles, with the most beautiful green eyes and a constant frown. As crazy as it sounds, I think I was dreaming of you,” Kylo murmurs against his neck, nuzzling him like an overgrown housecat. Goosebumps cover Hux’s arms and legs at Kylo’s words.

“Come to think of it, I dreamed of a boy with dark curly hair and amber eyes who refused to stop trying to make me laugh,” Hux replies breathlessly, knowing know that it was no coincidence. Somehow, for some unknown reason, fate had found them, and brought them to each other. Two tired and lonely souls, misunderstood by everyone except for each other. 

Hux absentmindedly twirls one of Kylo’s dark curls between his fingers, recalling the young boy’s adamance in his dreams, his grinning face and high melodic laugh, which proved to be infectious. 

Suddenly, Kylo laughs against Hux’s collarbone, which he had kissed just a moment before, breaking Hux out of trying to remember his dreams. Hux shoots a confused look up down at Kylo, who is still laughing.

“What?”

“I-hah...I guess you could say I find you pretty...foxy,” Kylo chortles.

“Oh, my fucking god,” Hux groans, eloquence thrown out the door at Kylo’s awful pun, even though there’s no real anger in his words, only love and the slightest bit of amazement at Kylo’s speedy joke. 

“Do you hate me now?” Kylo snorts, slotting his fingers in between Hux’s. Hux can only give him a gentle, fond smile, and the most honest thing he’s ever said in his entire life.

“I couldn’t hate you even if I tried,” before dipping down and brushing his lips against Kylo’s, soft and untrained, but undeniably full of as much love and happiness as one can put into a kiss. If Kylo were to die at that very moment he’d die a happy man.

  
~

 

Rain patters against the rooftops, Hux lay sleeping at the window, slight but tall frame covered in a fuzzy beige oversized sweater, chest rising and falling slowly, as raindrops languidly slide down the panes of glass. The house would be cold, if not for the fire Kylo built in the fireplace, which crackles contently, slowly but surely devouring the wood within it. 

Mitaka is as close to the fire as he can be, without getting too hot, his tail wagging in excitement for the days to come. They’re all travelling to Europe to seek out a witch to reverse the spell that has been put on him. He’ll be human again, and have opposable thumbs, and not have to eat that godawful dog food. 

He also plans to seek out his family, his mother. He’s missed her so terribly ever since he had gotten involved with The First Order, where he was only allowed yearly visits. It wasn’t nearly enough, and 10 or so years had passed since he’d been turned. He can only hope she’s still alive and well. 

Kylo, on the other hand, took relish in quitting his shitty Self Defense teaching job over the phone. He felt vindicated, and yes, he was being petty, but damn if it didn’t feel good after having to deal with the stingy dick he’d worked for. He quit his work in the Diner a far bit more professionally, because he actually liked the lady he’d worked for. 

Kylo rises, stretching his long arms high above his head and relishing in the pleasant feeling, before silently walking over to where Hux sleeps soundly. His heart feels fuzzy and warm, as opposed to the aching, cold loneliness he’d been stuck with ever since he was a child. Knowing that Hux felt that way too was both saddening and a relief, as selfish as it sounds. 

He absentmindedly draws a heart on the condensation on the window, where Hux will see it when he wakes. His heart thrums excitedly at the expectation of Hux’s reaction.

When Hux does wake, about a few minutes later, he blearily looks at the heart and smiles tiredly at Kylo, turning over and touching his forehead to Kylo’s, closing his eyes and tightly wrapping his arms around Kylo’s neck.

Kylo finds himself humming something, a lullaby he remembers his mother softly singing to him on cold winter nights, when his blankets covered in stars and planets, with little rocket ships blasting off about in space were tucked under his chin, and he felt so safe, so loved, away from the turbulence that was yet to come, and he knows he’s found his home, his peace, once more.

Hux falls asleep again, this time his face is rested in Kylo’s firm chest, the faint sound of his heartbeat lulling him even further as Kylo runs his hands through his love’s copper hair, feeling drowsy and jubilant himself, shifting them so he lays where Hux had been sleeping prior, Hux resting on top of him like a blanket.

 

He falls asleep to the pitter-patter of rain and Hux’s gentle breathing.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Heya, guys! Wow, I can't believe this fic is almost over. It feels way too soon if that makes any sense. Anyways, we got kisses! and fluff! and almost resolution! and a tiny bit of angst snuck in there idk how that happened lmao. The next chapter is sort of an epilogue but don't worry it'll cover everything and it won't really be a time skip until a bit later on.
> 
> Thank you all for the endless support, ideas, and just everything tbh. After this fic ends I'm gonna kick my happy butt into gear and try to finish Spell, while also adding to Business Proposal, which has been a bit neglected, so don't worry I'm not abandoning either of them. Thank you guys for reading, and for all the kudos, comments, etc. I appreciate them so much. <3

**Author's Note:**

> I've hopped on the fox!hux train bc how can you not. Also gdi Kylo you interrupted his trash excavation he was finding good stuff (i'm lying it's gross but he's gotta do what he's gotta do)
> 
> I was intending this to be a oneshot, but I have no control over my life so expect another chapter within a week. Hope you guys liked it!


End file.
